One significant metric for tracking SpaceX's IPO later this week is how it has transformed the venture industry's perspective on long-term, capital-intensive space endeavors. A talented founder with no space experience can now fund a space data center company. Orbital, a new firm that emerged in May from a16z's startup accelerator Speedrun, has secured a $5 million seed round and promises to conduct inference in space once Starship is operational. Other investors include Basis Set, Human Element, Wayfinder, and more. Founder and CEO Euwyn Poon previously founded e-scooter company Spin in 2017, selling it to Ford a year later. When he was ready to start a new venture, a16z's Speedrun was eager to collaborate. Poon explored several ideas before settling on space data centers.
With insatiable demand for AI compute and slow deployment on Earth, Poon's pitch is compelling: why not utilize space's limitless sunshine and limited environmental reviews? However, the harsh economics of launching objects into orbit currently hinder the business case. Like many competitors, Orbital is banking on SpaceX successfully launching its Starship rocket for commercial customers. "We will scale fully when Starship comes online," Poon explained. The current state-of-the-art Falcon 9 pricing makes this economically unfeasible.
Currently, Poon and his team of about a dozen individuals in Los Angeles, with experience from Amazon LEO, SpaceX, and Northrop Grumman, are working towards a demo flight to test Orbital's radiation shielding and thermal management technology by flying an Nvidia Blackwell chip on a partner's satellite. By 2028, the company hopes to launch its first data-processing spacecraft equipped with Nvidia's Space-1 Vera Rubin-class GPUs. At that point, the company aims to generate revenue through piece-wise inference work with each satellite launched. This path is similar to rival startup Starcloud, which already has a GPU in orbit and plans further launches until Starship enables their full constellation deployment.
Orbital aims to deploy 10,000 satellites providing a distributed gigawatt of computing power, with each satellite delivering 100 kW. In comparison, Elon Musk stated that SpaceX expects its AI satellites to produce up to 150 kW, while Starcloud anticipates larger 200 kW-rated spacecraft to operate chips. Some companies are too impatient for Starship. Cowboy Space Company, another space data center startup backed by a16z, recently opted to build its own rockets. Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin has also announced plans to launch data centers into space using its New Glenn launch vehicle. Poon is confident that the breadth of AI demand will allow many companies to succeed. "There are so many lanes for companies in our space to pursue," he told TechCrunch.
Poon's experience in scaling a company that deployed 250,000 scooters across 100 cities showcases his capability to manage the complexities of building an aerospace company. Long-term, such a project could take a decade and over $5 billion, but Chen noted that venture firms are more comfortable with timelines like that. "This kind of thing would have sounded crazy 10 years ago when we were all building mobile apps," he said. "Starting it in 2026 just lets you tap into all the energy and excitement happening in the capital markets." Poon arrived at the space data center business through a circuitous route. After leaving Ford, he whimsically purchased an Nvidia A100, co-locating it in a Santa Clara data center and serving open-weight models. This firsthand experience convinced him of the value in delivering compute in the age of AI. Now, he just needs to put a couple thousand GPUs in space.
Blogger's Review: This article illustrates the investment potential of the cutting-edge space data center sector, especially amid the growing demand for AI compute. Poon's entrepreneurial journey is inspiring, showcasing that even founders without space experience can innovate and thrive in high-tech industries. Looking forward to Orbital's future performance.