TAMPA, Fla. — One-year-old data networking startup Armada got here out of stealth Dec. 11 after raising greater than $55 million to develop computing tools promising to empower distant devices connected to Starlink, SpaceX’s low Earth orbit broadband constellation.
Armada says its portable Galleon data centers would give oil rigs, battlefields, and other off-the-grid sites real-time data processing capabilities normally confined to areas with terrestrial connectivity, including generative artificial intelligence platforms corresponding to ChatGPT.
Galleons could be the dimensions of shipping containers around nine meters in length, far smaller than multi-purpose data centers normally housed in large buildings.
The technology could be geared to make use of SpaceX’s satellites for global connectivity, leveraging an operating system that a customer could use to administer multiple Starlink deployments across their business.
Founders Fund, an early SpaceX investor, led Armada’s funding round alongside enterprise capital firms Lux Capital, Shield Capital, and 8090 Industries.
Armada declined to comment on whether it’s partnering with SpaceX, which has not commented on the enterprise.
Other key details, including how far Armada is from launching business operations, also remain under wraps.
An Armada spokesperson said a lot of the company’s 60 employees are based in Bellevue, Washington, near Seattle and never removed from where SpaceX builds Starlink satellites.
The enterprise is led by co-founder Dan Wright, who resigned as CEO of DataRobot last 12 months amid a series of layoffs at the unreal intelligence software provider.
Wright’s departure followed worker uproar over news that he and other DataRobot executives sold stock when the corporate’s private valuation peaked at $6.3 billion, reported The Information, while other employees didn’t get the identical opportunity.
Early-stage investors Felicis, Contrary, Valor Equity Partners, Marlinspike, 137 Ventures, Koch Real Estate Investments, and 8VC also participated in Armada’s fundraising, in keeping with a news release, together with undisclosed strategic investors.