# Starcloud Raises $250 Million to Build AI Data Centers in Orbit

*2026-08-21 14:02 UTC · AI · 1 min read*

> Orbital AI-compute startup Starcloud raised $250M at a $2.3B valuation, with Nvidia among the backers, to expand satellite manufacturing and secure scarce launch capacity.

Starcloud, a startup building satellites for AI inference in space, closed a $250 million Series A extension led by Manhattan West Ventures, pushing its valuation to $2.3 billion. Nvidia contributed $25 million to the round, alongside Cisco, Benchmark, EQT and several other investors.

The fresh capital will fund manufacturing expansion and development of the Starcloud-3 spacecraft, built for SpaceX's Starship rocket. CEO Philip Johnston said securing launch capacity has become one of the company's biggest costs, as SpaceX plans to retire the Falcon 9 by 2028 in favor of the still-unproven Starship.

Starcloud already operates Nvidia H100 GPUs in orbit — the only company to do so — and holds FCC approval for up to 88,000 spacecraft. Its smaller Starcloud-2 satellites, each carrying 8 kW of compute, are set to launch on rideshare missions in 2027, with a next-generation Nvidia Vera Rubin Space-1 chip planned for 2028.

## Sources

- [techcrunch.com](https://techcrunch.com/2026/08/21/starcloud-raises-200-million-for-orbital-data-centers-as-launch-options-dry-up/)

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TechTools News · https://techtools.cz/tools/news/article/2228-starcloud-raises-250-million-to-build-ai-data-centers-in-orbit
Česká verze: https://techtools.cz/tools/news/clanek/2301-starcloud-ziskal-250-milionu-dolaru-na-budovani-ai-datacenter-na-obezne-draze