# Starcloud

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American company

This article is about the company. For the astronomical phenomenon, see [Star cloud](/source/Star_cloud). For the fictional character, see [Transformers: Zone](/source/Transformers%3A_Zone).

Starcloud, Inc. Starcloud logo since 2025 Type Private Industry Space Founded January 2024; 2 years ago (2024-01) in El Segundo, California, USA Founders Philip Johnston Ezra Feilden Adi Oltean Headquarters Redmond, Washington , USA Key people Philip Johnston (CEO) Ezra Feilden (CTO) Adi Oltean (Chief Engineer) Chetan Puttagunta (Board Member) Number of employees 15 (2026) Website www.starcloud.com

**Starcloud, Inc.** is a United States-based company that designs, builds, and deploys data centers in space using [proprietary](/source/Proprietary_software) technology.[1][2][3][4][5] In March 2026, Starcloud became the fastest [unicorn](/source/Unicorn_(finance)) in [Y Combinator](/source/Y_Combinator) history, hitting a $1.1bn valuation just 17 months after completing the program.[6]

## History

The company was founded in January 2024 in [El Segundo, California](/source/El_Segundo%2C_California) under the name Lumen Orbit by [Philip Johnston](/source/Philip_Johnston_(entrepreneur)) (ex-[McKinsey & Company](/source/McKinsey_%26_Company)), Adi Oltean (ex-[SpaceX](/source/SpaceX), [Microsoft Azure](/source/Microsoft_Azure)) and Ezra Feilden (ex-[Airbus Defence and Space](/source/Airbus_Defence_and_Space)).[1][7] Soon after founding, in February 2024, the company relocated to [Redmond, Washington](/source/Redmond%2C_Washington) to be close to the space and data center talent at [Starlink](/source/Starlink), [Amazon Leo](/source/Amazon_Leo), [AWS](/source/AWS), and [Azure](/source/Microsoft_Azure).[8]

In Summer 2024, the company released a white paper[9][10][11] and went through the [Y Combinator](/source/Y_Combinator) startup accelerator in [San Francisco](/source/San_Francisco), where they were selected by [Tom Blomfield](/source/Tom_Blomfield) and raised one of the largest seed rounds ever at Y Combinator demo day.[12]

In March 2025, the company rebranded to Starcloud after a legal challenge from [Lumen Technologies](/source/Lumen_Technologies) and raised additional seed funding, bringing the total to approximately $34M.[13][14][15][16] Investors include the scout funds of [Sequoia](/source/Sequoia_Capital) and [A16z](/source/Andreessen_Horowitz), [In-Q-Tel](/source/In-Q-Tel), NFX, [Plug and Play](/source/Plug_and_Play_Tech_Center), as well as angels, including AI expert [Jan Leike](/source/Jan_Leike).[17]

In November 2025, Starcloud launched its first test satellite, designated Starcloud-1, equipped with a [Nvidia](/source/Nvidia) [H100 GPU](/source/Hopper_(microarchitecture)) which Nvidia claimed was 100x more powerful GPU compute than had been in orbit before.[18] The company described the mission as the first deployment of "data-center-class GPU compute" in orbit.[19][20][21][22]

Starcloud stated that the project aimed to explore how orbital conditions, including continuous solar exposure and [radiative cooling](/source/Radiative_cooling), could support large-scale computing in space.[23][24][25]

In December 2025, Starcloud became the first company to operate a large language model on a high powered [GPU](/source/Graphics_processing_unit) ([Gemini](/source/Google_Gemini)'s Gemma, developed by [Google DeepMind](/source/Google_DeepMind)) onboard a [spacecraft](/source/Spacecraft), and the first to perform in-orbit training of a large language model (nanoGPT, developed by [Andrej Karpathy](/source/Andrej_Karpathy)).[26][27][28][29][30]

Starcloud-1 deployment from a [SpaceX](/source/SpaceX) [Falcon 9](/source/Falcon_9) rocket on November 2nd, 2025

On February 3rd, 2026, Starcloud submitted a proposal to the FCC for a constellation of up to 88,000 satellites for orbital data centers.[31]

On March 7th, 2026, Starcloud announced that it intended to be the first to mine [Bitcoin](/source/Bitcoin) in space, flying bitcoin mining ASICs on its second satellite,[*[when?](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Dates_and_numbers#Chronological_items)*] Starcloud-2.[32]

On March 30th, 2026, Starcloud announced that it had raised a $170M Series A at a $1.1bn valuation led by [Benchmark](/source/Benchmark_Capital) and [EQT Ventures](/source/EQT_AB). The raise made Starcloud the fastest company to reach [unicorn](/source/Unicorn_(finance)) status in [Y Combinator](/source/Y_Combinator) history, 17 months after completing the program.[33]

On May 26th, 2026, Starcloud announced that it had signed a contract with [SpaceX](/source/SpaceX) to integrate [Starlink](/source/Starlink) mini-lasers onto its next 25 satellites to provide high-bandwidth, low-latency connectivity.[34]

## Partnerships

In 2024, Starcloud was selected as a member of the [Nvidia](/source/Nvidia) Inception program, the [Google Cloud](/source/Google_Cloud) Accelerator, and the [Defense Innovation Unit](/source/Defense_Innovation_Unit) Accelerator.[35][36]

In October 2025, Crusoe and Starcloud announced an agreement, as Crusoe will deploy its "Crusoe Cloud" platform on a Starcloud satellite planned for late 2026. Under this agreement, GPU capacity from orbit is expected to be offered from early 2027.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

Starcloud-1 is also using the H100 to run high-powered inference on [Synthetic-aperture radar](/source/Synthetic-aperture_radar) (SAR) data from [Capella Space](/source/Capella_Space) in order to draw insights on orbit for the first time, without needing to downlink the data before being able to analyse it.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

## See also

- [Space-based data center](/source/Space-based_data_center)

## References

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:0_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:0_1-1) Werner, John. ["Lumen Orbit Wants To Put Data Centers In Space"](http://web.archive.org/web/20250109011022/https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnwerner/2024/12/17/lumen-orbit-wants-to-put-data-centers-in-space/). *Forbes*. Archived from [the original](https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnwerner/2024/12/17/lumen-orbit-wants-to-put-data-centers-in-space/) on 2025-01-09. Retrieved 2025-12-20.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["The answer to tech's clean energy problem? Put data centres in space"](https://www.thetimes.com/business/companies-markets/article/the-answer-to-techs-clean-energy-problem-put-data-centres-in-space-6pl9z5zbw). *www.thetimes.com*. 2025-01-05. Retrieved 2025-12-20.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** ["The plans to put data centres into orbit and on the moon"](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjewvpkw7weo). *www.bbc.com*. 2025-04-09. Retrieved 2025-12-20.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["Space data centres: powering AI with solar energy"](http://web.archive.org/web/20250710235946/https://www.weforum.org/videos/data-centres-space/). *World Economic Forum*. Archived from [the original](https://www.weforum.org/videos/data-centres-space/) on 2025-07-10. Retrieved 2025-12-20.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** [https://web.archive.org/web/20260202104016/https://www.starcloud.com/starcloud-2](https://web.archive.org/web/20260202104016/https://www.starcloud.com/starcloud-2)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Rainbow, Jason (30 March 2026). ["Starcloud achieves unicorn status with 170 million raise"](https://spacenews.com/starcloud-achieves-unicorn-status-with-170-million-raise-for-orbital-data-centers/). SpaceNews.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** ["Could data centres ever be built in orbit?"](https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2025/04/09/could-data-centres-ever-be-built-in-orbit). *The Economist*. [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0013-0613](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0013-0613). Retrieved 2025-12-30.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** Booth, Robert (2025-11-04). ["Google plans to put datacentres in space to meet demand for AI"](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/nov/04/google-plans-to-put-datacentres-in-space-to-meet-demand-for-ai). *The Guardian*. [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0261-3077](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0261-3077). Retrieved 2025-12-30.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** ["Lumen Orbit wants to deploy data centers in space"](https://www.networkworld.com/article/3594676/lumen-orbit-wants-to-deploy-data-centers-in-space.html). *Network World*. Retrieved 2025-12-20.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** Monsanto, Brianna. ["The future of data centers is above the clouds"](https://www.itbrew.com/stories/2024/09/17/the-future-of-data-centers-is-above-the-clouds). *IT Brew*. Retrieved 2025-12-20.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** Feilden, Ezra; Oltean, Adi; Johnston, Philip (September 2024). ["Why we should train AI in space"](https://starcloudinc.github.io/wp.pdf) (PDF). *Starcloud (formerly Lumen Orbit)*. Retrieved 20 December 2025.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** ["Lumen Orbit Advances Space-Based AI Data Centers with $10M Funding and Nvidia Partnership"](https://spaceinsider.tech/2024/10/28/lumen-orbit-advances-space-based-ai-data-centers-with-10m-funding-and-nvidia-partnership/). *Space Insider*. 2024-10-28. Retrieved 2025-12-20.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** ["Lumen Orbit rebrands to Starcloud, raises another $10m for in-orbit data centers"](https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/lumen-orbit-rebrands-to-starcloud-raises-another-10m-for-in-orbit-data-centers/). *www.datacenterdynamics.com*. 2025-03-03. Retrieved 2025-12-20.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-14)** ["Lumen Orbit changes its name to Starcloud and raises $10M for space data centers"](https://www.geekwire.com/2025/lumen-orbit-starcloud-10m-space-data-centers/). *GeekWire*. 2025-02-26. Retrieved 2025-12-20.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-15)** Szkutak, Rebecca (2024-10-24). ["Exclusive: Lumen Orbit closed one of the biggest rounds from Y Combinator's last cohort"](https://techcrunch.com/2024/10/24/lumen-orbit-closed-one-of-the-biggest-rounds-from-y-combinators-last-cohort/). *TechCrunch*. Retrieved 2025-12-20.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-16)** Eaton, Kit (2024-10-25). ["Here's How a Startup Landed $10 Million to Put AI Data Centers in Space"](https://www.inc.com/kit-eaton/heres-how-a-startup-landed-10-million-to-put-ai-data-centers-in-space/90994829). *Inc*. Retrieved 2025-12-20.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-17)** Szkutak, Rebecca (2024-12-11). ["200 VCs wanted to get into Lumen Orbit's $11M seed round"](https://techcrunch.com/2024/12/11/200-vcs-wanted-to-get-into-lumen-orbits-11m-seed-round/). *TechCrunch*. Retrieved 2025-12-20.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-18)** Tan, Eli (2026-01-01). ["Even the Sky May Not Be the Limit for A.I. Data Centers"](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/01/technology/space-data-centers-ai.html?smid=nytcore-android-share). *New York Times*. Retrieved 2026-01-01.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-19)** ["Nvidia-backed start up Starcloud sends AI-equipped satellite to space"](https://www.nbcnews.com/video/nvidia-backed-start-up-starcloud-sends-ai-equipped-satellite-to-space-251515973855). *NBC News*. Retrieved 2025-12-20.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-20)** ["Starcloud-1 with NVIDIA GPU takes AI to space in November because the world is not enough"](https://www.financialexpress.com/life/technology-starcloud-1-with-nvidia-gpu-takes-ai-training-to-space-in-november-heres-why-floating-data-centers-matter-4024162/). *FE Tech Bytes*. 2025-10-28. Retrieved 2025-12-20.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-21)** say, Sebastian Moss Have your (2025-11-03). ["Starcloud-1 satellite reaches space, with Nvidia H100 GPU now operating in orbit"](https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/starcloud-1-satellite-reaches-space-with-nvidia-h100-gpu-now-operating-in-orbit/). *www.datacenterdynamics.com*. Retrieved 2025-12-20.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-22)** ["SpaceX"](http://www.spacex.com/). *SpaceX*. Retrieved 2025-12-20.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-23)** Kurt Knutsson, CyberGuy Report (2025-10-31). ["A supercomputer chip going to space could change life on Earth"](https://www.foxnews.com/tech/supercomputer-chip-going-space-could-change-life-earth). *Fox News*. Retrieved 2025-12-20.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-24)** Fork’, ‘HARD (2025-11-26). ["Video: How Will Starcloud Build Data Centers in Space?"](https://www.nytimes.com/video/podcasts/100000010546375/how-will-starcloud-build-data-centers-in-space.html). *The New York Times*. [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0362-4331](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0362-4331). Retrieved 2025-12-20.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-25)** ["Starcloud, cette start-up veut mettre les data centers et les IA au frais, dans l'espace"](https://www.bfmtv.com/tech/starcloud-cette-start-up-veut-mettre-les-data-centers-et-les-ia-au-frais-dans-l-espace_AV-202510200041.html). *BFM* (in French). 2025-10-20. Retrieved 2025-12-20.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-26)** ["'Greetings, earthlings': Nvidia-backed Starcloud trains first AI model in space as orbital data center race heats up"](https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/10/nvidia-backed-starcloud-trains-first-ai-model-in-space-orbital-data-centers.html). *CNBC*. 2025-12-10. Retrieved 2025-12-20.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-27)** ["An AI Model Has Been Trained in Space Using an Orbiting Nvidia GPU"](https://www.pcmag.com/news/an-ai-model-has-been-trained-in-space-using-an-orbiting-nvidia-gpu). *PCMAG*. 2025-12-10. Retrieved 2025-12-20.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-28)** ["'One small step for LLMs': Why training the first AI model in space is a breakthrough"](https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/artificial-intelligence/why-training-first-ai-model-in-space-breakthrough-10415274/). *The Indian Express*. 2025-12-13. Retrieved 2025-12-20.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-29)** ["StarCloud's Space AI Greets Earth with Witty Message"](https://www.chosun.com/english/industry-en/2025/12/14/7F4462FBTBASVJB32LO2UFAQXQ/). *The Chosun Daily* (in Korean). 2025-12-13. Retrieved 2025-12-20.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-30)** ["From data center spas to servers in space: How the energy crunch is reshaping cloud computing"](https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/29/future-of-the-cloud-from-spas-to-orbital-space-data-centers.html). *CNBC*. 2025-12-29. Retrieved 2025-12-29.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-31)** Kan, Michael (5 February 2026). ["Startup Requests 88,000 Satellites"](https://www.pcmag.com/news/data-center-space-race-heats-up-as-starcloud-startup-requests-88000-satellites?test_uuid=04IpBmWGZleS0I0J3epvMrC&test_variant=B). PCMag.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-32)** Kan, Michael (7 March 2026). ["Starcloud to do bitcoin mining in space"](https://www.pcmag.com/news/startup-working-on-orbital-data-centers-teases-bitcoin-mining-in-space). PCMag.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-33)** Rainbow, Jason (30 March 2026). ["Starcloud achieves unicorn status with 170 million raise"](https://spacenews.com/starcloud-achieves-unicorn-status-with-170-million-raise-for-orbital-data-centers/). SpaceNews.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-34)** Rainbow, Jason (26 May 2026). ["Starcloud orders Starlink lasers for orbital data center network"](https://spacenews.com/starcloud-orders-starlink-lasers-for-orbital-data-center-network/). SpaceNews.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-35)** ["Starcloud Launches AI Satellite with NVIDIA H100 to Cut Energy Use"](https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/starcloud-launches-ai-orbit-nvidia-powered-space-data-centers-promise-10x-energy-savings-1748534). *International Business Times UK*. 2025-10-17. Retrieved 2025-12-20.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-36)** ["Starcloud to Launch First H100 GPU Into Space This November"](https://www.techbuzz.ai/articles/starcloud-to-launch-first-h100-gpu-into-space-this-november). *The Tech Buzz*. 15 October 2025. Retrieved 20 December 2025.

## External links

- [Official website](https://www.starcloud.com/)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Starcloud](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starcloud) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starcloud?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.