Starcloud has raised another $250 million to develop orbital data centers. This is an extension of the March investment round, in which the startup had already received $170 million. The company’s valuation after the new investment reached $2.3 billion.
Money for Rockets and Manufacturing
The additional capital will be directed toward opening a larger manufacturing facility and developing the company’s largest spacecraft, Starcloud-3. It is planned to be launched aboard SpaceX’s Starship rocket.
Starcloud CEO Philip Johnston emphasizes that the main challenge now is not a lack of money, but a shortage of launch capacity. The company has already applied to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for authorization to operate 88,000 spacecraft. According to Johnston, Starcloud wants to secure launch contracts as quickly as possible, including with Starship.
The Launch Market Is Narrowing
SpaceX plans to end Falcon 9 operations in 2028, while Starship has yet to demonstrate regular flight cadence. This creates uncertainty for satellite operators, as competitors such as Blue Origin’s New Glenn and ULA’s Vulcan are not yet flying regularly.
Because of this situation, Starcloud is considering purchasing a dedicated Falcon 9 launch and signing contracts with other providers. The nearest goal for 2027 is to launch two Starcloud-2 spacecraft on rideshare missions, meaning shared launches in which a single rocket carries payloads for several customers. They will perform data-processing tasks for clients, including U.S. government agencies.
Nvidia’s Participation in the Round
Another notable signal for the market is Nvidia’s participation in the investment round. According to TechCrunch, the chipmaker invested $25 million. Starcloud remains the only known company to have launched a terrestrial Nvidia H100 graphics processor into orbit and trained a model on it.
Johnston explains Nvidia’s interest by noting that the company receives data from Starcloud on how its chips behave in space. This is important because Nvidia is developing its first dedicated graphics processor for space, Vera Rubin Space-1. Starcloud hopes to test it in orbit by the end of 2028. Engineers are already analyzing how chip temperature affects radiator size and how to protect electronics from radiation and launch vibrations.
Starcloud currently employs 25 people. The production line is being set up in Woodinville, Washington, at a facility of about 9,300 square meters, near SpaceX and Amazon operations.
