---
type: entity
entity_type: company
name: Starcloud
founded: ~2024
headquarters: Seattle area, USA
status: active
industry: orbital data centers, space-based AI compute
key_people: []
website: []
tags: [orbital-data-center, AI-compute, small-satellite, NVIDIA-partnership, SpaceX-rideshare]
supports:
- Starcloud is the first company to operate a datacenter grade GPU in orbit but faces an existential dependency on SpaceX for launches while SpaceX builds a competing million satellite constellation
- Orbital data center deployment follows a three-tier launch vehicle activation sequence (rideshare → dedicated → constellation) where each tier unlocks an order-of-magnitude increase in compute scale
reweave_edges:
- Starcloud is the first company to operate a datacenter grade GPU in orbit but faces an existential dependency on SpaceX for launches while SpaceX builds a competing million satellite constellation|supports|2026-04-04
- Orbital data center deployment follows a three-tier launch vehicle activation sequence (rideshare → dedicated → constellation) where each tier unlocks an order-of-magnitude increase in compute scale|supports|2026-04-04
---

# Starcloud

**Industry:** Orbital data centers / space-based AI compute  
**Status:** Active, post-Series A  
**Key Technology:** Space-qualified NVIDIA H100 GPUs for AI training and inference in low Earth orbit

## Overview

Starcloud is a Seattle-area startup developing orbital data center infrastructure for AI compute workloads. The company launched the first NVIDIA H100 GPU into orbit aboard Starcloud-1 in November 2025, demonstrating AI model training and inference in space.

## Strategic Position

- **First-mover advantage:** First company to demonstrate AI model training in orbit (NanoGPT trained on Shakespeare, November 2025)
- **NVIDIA partnership:** Explicit backing from NVIDIA, with NVIDIA Blog profile predating Series A raise
- **SpaceX rideshare access:** Partnership with SpaceX for rideshare launch capacity
- **Rapid capital formation:** Achieved unicorn valuation within 16 months of first proof-of-concept launch

## Technology

- **Satellite specs:** 60kg small satellites (approximately refrigerator-sized)
- **Compute performance:** ~100x more compute than any prior space-based system
- **Software compatibility:** Standard Earth-side ML frameworks (NanoGPT, Gemma) run without modification
- **Demonstrated workloads:** LLM training (NanoGPT on Shakespeare corpus), LLM inference (Google Gemma queries)

## Market Thesis

"Demand for compute outpaces Earth's limits" — positioning orbital data centers as addressing terrestrial compute constraints rather than creating a new niche market.

## Timeline

- **2025-11-02** — Starcloud-1 launches aboard SpaceX Falcon 9 rideshare mission, carrying first NVIDIA H100 GPU into orbit
- **2025-11-02** — Successfully demonstrates AI model training in orbit: NanoGPT trained on complete works of Shakespeare
- **2025-11-02** — Successfully demonstrates AI inference in orbit: Google Gemma LLM running and responding to queries
- **2026-03-30** — Raises $170M Series A at $1.1B valuation (TechCrunch), 16 months after proof-of-concept launch

## Sources

- Data Center Dynamics: Starcloud-1 satellite reaches space with NVIDIA H100 GPU (Nov 2025)
- CNBC coverage of Starcloud-1 launch (Nov 2025)
- TechCrunch: Starcloud Series A announcement (March 2026)
- NVIDIA Blog: Starcloud profile (pre-Series A)
- GeekWire: Seattle startup coverage