Starcloud raises $250 million for orbital data centers as launch options dry up

Starcloud raised $250 million in a Series A extension, raising total funding to $420 million and valuing the company at $2.3 billion. The new capital will expand its manufacturing plant and develop the Starcloud-3 spacecraft, which will launch on SpaceX’s Starship. The firm seeks FCC approval for 88,000 satellites and plans 2027 rideshare flights of 8 kW compute satellites for U.S. government clients. Nvidia invested $25 million to support Starcloud’s use of an orbiting Nvidia H100 GPU and to inform the development of the Vera Rubin Space-1 chip, expected to fly in late 2028.