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Lumen Orbit Secures One of the Largest Rounds from Y Combinator’s Most Recent Cohort

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In a significant development, Lumen Orbithas has closed an oversubscribed seed round of more than $10 million. According to a source familiar with the details, this makes it one of the hottest deals in the recent Y Combinator batch.

The Startup’s Ambitious Vision

Lumen Orbithas is based in Redmond, Washington and is working on a revolutionary idea – building a network of data centers in space that can scale up to a gigawatt capacity. This infrastructure will be used to train large AI models, addressing the growing need for computing power.

Progress So Far

Despite being founded just earlier this year, Lumen Orbithas has made notable progress already. The company is planning to launch its demonstrator satellite in 2025 as part of Nvidia’s Inception program. This partnership demonstrates the startup’s commitment to innovation and collaboration with industry leaders.

Data Centers in Space: A Growing Need

The idea of building data centers in space may seem ambitious, but it’s not surprising that a company like Lumen Orbithas has garnered significant interest from venture capitalists (VCs). The scramble for power to fuel AI growth is a pressing issue. Companies like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon are already partnering with nuclear power plants to meet their energy needs. By 2030, data centers are expected to consume nearly 9% of overall energy consumption in the U.S.

Not Alone in Space-Based Solutions

Lumen Orbithas isn’t the only company exploring space-based solutions for the potential data center crisis. Lonestar Data Holdings has also raised $5.8 million and plans to build data centers on the moon. While there’s interest in these innovative approaches, VCs acknowledge that customer adoption will be a significant challenge.

Founding Team

Lumen Orbithas was founded by Philip Johnston (CEO), Ezra Feilden (CTO), and Adi Oltean (chief engineer) earlier this year. Prior to this seed round, the startup had raised $2.4 million in a pre-seed round led by Nebular with participation from Everywhere Ventures, Tiny VC, and Sequoia among others.

A Hottest Deal in the Recent Y Combinator Batch

Lumen Orbithas’s oversubscribed seed round makes it one of the most attractive deals in the recent Y Combinator batch. This speaks to the startup’s potential for growth and innovation in addressing a critical issue – providing power for AI development.

The Future of Data Centers

The future of data centers looks increasingly space-based. With companies like Lumen Orbithas and Lonestar Data Holdings leading the charge, we can expect significant advancements in this field. As the demand for computing power continues to grow, innovative solutions like these will be crucial in addressing the challenge.

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