Satlyt raises an $8 million seed round led by Non Sibi Ventures for software that runs AI on satellites

Satlyt raises an $8 million seed round led by Non Sibi Ventures for software that runs AI on satellites

1 October 2026: Satlyt, a company with headquarters in Sunnyvale, California, and Nairobi, Kenya, has raised an $8 million seed round to build software that lets satellites run AI models and share large computing jobs in orbit, TechCrunch and TechCabal reported on 1 October 2026. Its founder, Rama Afullo, previously worked as a product manager at Google and SpaceX.

The round

According to TechCrunch, the $8 million seed round was led by Houston-based Non Sibi Ventures, where partner Bernard Harris, a former NASA astronaut, backed the business. TechCabal lists other investors including TLCOM, Antler, Launch Africa Ventures and Enza Capital, among others; the outlets' lists are not identical. The reports say the money will go into growing the engineering and customer-delivery teams and deploying Satlyt's software on more spacecraft operated by other companies.

What the company does

Satlyt builds software for satellites rather than satellites themselves. The idea is that a satellite can process its own data and resolve problems on board, instead of sending everything to the ground, where downlink is slow and expensive. TechCrunch reports that earlier this year Satlyt ran an open AI model on a spacecraft operated by another company, cutting the size of a transmission about onboard software errors by more than 60%. Its longer-term aim is for many satellites to share computing work, described as virtual data centres in space.

Why it matters for buyers

For operators of satellites and buyers of satellite data, processing in orbit could mean faster answers and lower downlink costs, for example by sending only the images that show a change. It also shifts software risk into orbit, where fixes are harder. A Kenyan-founded company in this market is also a sign of Africa's growing technical talent in space software.

What to check

• Which spacecraft platforms and onboard computers the software runs on today.
• How models and software are updated in orbit, and how a failed update is rolled back.
• Who controls the data processed on board and where results are stored.
• How the software is isolated from a satellite's flight-critical systems.
• References from operators already running it.

Sources

• TechCrunch: Satlyt, founded by a former Google and SpaceX product manager, raises $8M to run AI on satellites - 1 October 2026
• TechCabal: The plan to build virtual data centres in space just got $8 million backing - 1 October 2026
• Via Satellite: Satlyt secures $8M in seed financing - 2 October 2026