Lumen Orbit closed one of the biggest rounds from Y Combinator's last cohort
This data-centers-in-space startup had an incredibly competitive deal as VCs scramble to fund power source companies for the AI race.
Lumen Orbit has closed an oversubscribed, eight-figure seed round of more than $10 million, a source familiar with the details told TechCrunch. That would make it one of the hottest deals, if not the hottest deal, of the most recent Y Combinator batch.
The Redmond, Washington-based startup is pursuing a moonshot idea to build a network of data centers in space that can scale to a gigawatt capacity and be used to train large AI models. Lumen Orbit declined to comment.
The company went through YC’s 2024 summer batch and garnered a significant amount of attention from VCs, multiple VCs told TechCrunch. This interest led to an extremely competitive deal process for the startup’s seed round.
While Lumen has a lofty mission, the company seems to be making notable progress already. It was founded earlier this year and is planning to launch its demonstrator satellite in 2025 in partnership with Nvidia’s Inception program.
It’s not surprising that a company looking to build data centers in space would garner a lot of interest. There’s such a big scramble to power AI that companies like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon are inking deals with nuclear power plants. Data centers are expected to consume 9% of overall energy consumption in the U.S. by 2030.
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Lumen Orbit is a space startup that's pioneering data centers in space, aiming to revolutionize the way we process and store data. Their innovative approach leverages the benefits of space-based operations, including abundant solar energy and passive cooling, to create scalable and sustainable data centers.
Founded by Philip Johnston, Ezra Feilden, and Adi Oltean, Lumen Orbit is tackling the challenge of hyperscale data centers, which are expected to put a huge strain on electricity grids and freshwater distribution .
By moving data centers to space, they're addressing these concerns while enabling the future of AI.
Key Benefits of Lumen Orbit's Space-Based Data Centers:
Reduced cost: Abundant solar energy without batteries and passive radiative cooling minimize expenses.
scalability: Grow to gigawatt scale without terrestrial constraints.
Rapid Deployment: Avoid restrictive permitting constraints on Earth.
The company has already made significant progress, securing $2.4 million in funding and booking their first launch for May 2025. With their cutting-edge technology and ambitious goals, Lumen Orbit is poised to transform the data center industry.
Lumen Orbit
What it does: Data centers in space.
Why it’s a fave: This company stood out because it seems like an extreme moonshot, and yet it’s already landed customers and is launching a demonstrator satellite next year. The concept of using solar energy to power data centers may be one to consider doing on Earth, too.