Starcloud has raised an additional 250 million in funding, bringing its total Series A round to 420 million. The startup is developing satellites that can perform AI inference in orbit, aiming to compete with terrestrial data centers.
The influx of capital will allow Starcloud to expand its manufacturing capabilities and advance its largest orbital data center spacecraft, Starcloud-3, which is set for launch on SpaceX’s Starship rocket. CEO Philip Johnston is also securing launch contracts despite the tight market, emphasizing that launch capacity is becoming increasingly constrained as SpaceX phases out its Falcon 9 program.
Starcloud plans to launch two of its new generation of 8 kW compute satellites in 2027 for government agencies, using rideshare flights. The company remains optimistic about the potential of Starship to reduce launch costs significantly and enable a competitive orbital inference layer.
Nvidia's investment underscores Starcloud’s unique position as the only company currently operating Nvidia H100 GPUs in orbit, with plans to fly its purpose-built Vera Rubin Space-1 chip in late 2028. The startup is carefully developing production lines in Washington and working on key design choices for space-ready chips.
