Satlyt Raises $8M Seed to Run AI Software on Satellites, With Nairobi Roots
Sunnyvale-headquartered Satlyt, with operations in Nairobi, has raised an $8 million seed round led by Houston-based Non Sibi Ventures to run AI models directly on satellites.
Satlyt, a software company that runs AI models on satellites, has raised an $8 million seed round led by Non Sibi Ventures, the Houston-based fund. Participants include TLCOM, Antler, Slauson & Co., Launch Africa Ventures, Enza Capital, Askya Investment Partners, Demos, BAG Collective, Gaingels and Axian Investment, alongside existing backers.
The company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, with operations in Nairobi. Founder Rama Afullo, a Kenyan-American engineer and former Google and SpaceX product manager, positions Satlyt as an open alternative to vertically integrated orbital computing: "if they are the iPhone, we'll build Android."
Satlyt says it has deployed Google DeepMind's Gemma model on a Momentus spacecraft, reducing the transmission size of software error reports by 60%, and has completed two demonstration missions. It plans to demonstrate a shared computing system across two satellites next year. The capital is for developing the orbital computing software and expanding the engineering team.
Satlyt is worth reading for its structure as much as its sector. It is a US-headquartered company with a Nairobi team, led by a US fund, with African funds like Launch Africa Ventures, TLCOM, Axian and Enza in the syndicate. ChipMango, covered in this newsroom, follows the same pattern: an African-linked team, a California entity, and African capital alongside a lead from outside. That structure is becoming a common route for African-linked deep tech to reach seed. For allocators, the practical question is which fact decides whether a company counts as African: founder, office, incorporation, or where the team sits. Each can point to a different answer. The 60% transmission reduction and two demonstration missions are real, but self-reported and early. The next verifiable milestone is the two-satellite compute demo.
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