Krux
April 3, 2026
Starcloud Hits $1.1B Valuation Building Data Centers in Orbit
Published: April 3, 2026 at 12:37 AM
Updated: April 3, 2026 at 12:37 AM
100-word summary
Starcloud raised $170 million from Benchmark and EQT Ventures to build satellites that run AI workloads in space, reaching unicorn status on a Series A. The startup already put an NVIDIA H100 chip in orbit last November and plans to launch commercial satellites for AWS, Google Cloud, and NVIDIA later this year. The funding round signals investors believe compute-intensive AI training might eventually move off-planet, where power and cooling constraints vanish. Starcloud is using the cash to build a dedicated manufacturing facility and secure launch contracts for its third-generation satellites. Running GPUs in zero gravity still sounds like science fiction, but apparently Amazon is willing to rent the capacity.
What happened
Starcloud raised $170 million from Benchmark and EQT Ventures to build satellites that run AI workloads in space, reaching unicorn status on a Series A. The startup already put an NVIDIA H100 chip in orbit last November and plans to launch commercial satellites for AWS, Google Cloud, and NVIDIA later this year. The funding round signals investors believe compute-intensive AI training might eventually move off-planet, where power and cooling constraints vanish. Starcloud is using the cash to build a dedicated manufacturing facility and secure launch contracts for its third-generation satellites.
Why it matters
Running GPUs in zero gravity still sounds like science fiction, but apparently Amazon is willing to rent the capacity.