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200 VCs Rushed to Join Lumen Orbit's $11M Seed Round

2024-12-11

Lumen Orbit, a pioneering startup with a vision to construct data centers in the vast expanse of space, has achieved remarkable success. In just a matter of days, it closed its recent seed round, attracting intense investor attention. Based in Redmond, Washington, the company secured a $11 million seed round at a valuation of $40 million, validating prior TechCrunch reports. NFX led the deal, with Morgan Beller joining the board. Other notable VCs like Fuse.VC, Soma Capital, and scout funds from Andreessen Horowitz and Sequoia also participated.

Revolutionize AI with Space-Bound Data Centers

Orbital Data Center Architecture

Lumen Orbit is crafting orbital data centers composed of pods. These pods can hold compute and can be individually brought up, attaching to large solar panels in space in clusters. The concept image above showcases this innovative setup. The company aims to build multi-gigawatt compute clusters by the end of the decade. A high-bandwidth optical laser will be used to send information back to Earth. If successful, this technology could significantly impact AI companies by eliminating data center size and power restrictions on Earth and at a fraction of the cost.

For instance, instead of spending $140 million on electricity, they could pay just $10 million for a launch and solar. This could be a game-changer for the AI industry, enabling them to scale without the constraints they currently face.

Launch Plans and Demonstrators

The company is gearing up to launch a demonstrator satellite in May, which will include Nvidia's terrestrial GPUs. In the following year, they plan to launch another test satellite that is 100 times more powerful. Johnston emphasized their goal of launching at least once a year. He stated, "A lot of space companies take five years to launch; we are launching it in 18 months. We'd rather launch frequently with smaller changes than wait five years and launch with a ton of incremental changes."

This approach showcases their commitment to innovation and rapid progress in the field of space-based data centers.

The Founding Team and Their Inspiration

Lumen Orbit's co-founder and CEO, Philip Johnston, along with CTO Ezra Feilden, got the idea for the company during their time working in the space industry. Feilden has a decade of experience in satellite design at companies like Airbus Defense and Space and Oxford Space Systems. Johnston worked with national space organizations in the Middle East as a consultant at McKinsey and was also a former founder of Opontia, a startup that scaled digital brands in the Middle East and was acquired at the end of 2023.

When they first considered the idea, they initially focused on space solar but realized the challenges of sending solar power back to Earth. However, data centers presented a different opportunity as they soak up the sun's energy and solve the cooling problem due to the natural coldness of deep space. They were introduced to Adi Oltean, an engineer at SpaceX at the time, who shared the same vision and joined the founding team as co-founder and chief engineer about a month after the company launched.

The Growing Importance of Space Data Centers

Building data centers in space and the deep ocean has become a significant part of the conversation on how to help AI scale to its full potential. Bill Gates, Sam Altman, and Elon Musk, among others in the AI community, have touted this as a potential solution to AI's growing data center and power problems. Axiom Space is also working on developing orbital data centers, although the field is not yet crowded. However, as more AI industry professionals show interest in this type of innovation, it is likely to become more competitive in the future.

Lumen's mission is ambitious, as it relies on the continuous decrease in satellite launch costs. If successful, it could enable AI to scale at the rate it desires and potentially mitigate some of the technology's effects on the Earth's climate.

Apple is making significant strides in the realm of artificial intelligence. It has been working closely with semiconductor company Broadcom on its first server chip specifically designed to handle AI applications. This move showcases Apple's ambition to expand its capabilities in the AI space.

Unleashing the Power of AI with Apple and Broadcom

Apple's Chip Design Expertise

Apple is renowned for its prowess in designing chips, such as the Apple Silicon series primarily manufactured by TSMC for its devices. However, these chips were not originally intended to handle the intense computing demands of AI processing. This new server chip represents a departure from the norm and a step towards meeting the growing demands of AI applications. 2: The design of these server chips is a testament to Apple's commitment to innovation. By collaborating with Broadcom, they are able to leverage the expertise of both companies to create a chip that is optimized for AI processing. This will enable Apple to offer more powerful and efficient AI services to its users.

The Importance of Networking Technology

A source has revealed that Broadcom and Apple are concentrating on the chip's networking technology. This aspect is crucial as it allows a device to connect to a network for seamless AI processing. By focusing on networking, Apple and Broadcom are ensuring that the server chips can handle the data transfer and communication requirements necessary for AI applications. 2: The completion of the chip design within 12 months is a significant milestone. It demonstrates the speed and efficiency with which Apple and Broadcom are working together. This timely development will enable Apple to integrate these server chips into its products sooner rather than later, providing users with enhanced AI capabilities.

Apple's AI Rollout Plans

On Wednesday, Apple rolled out several highly anticipated Apple Intelligence features to users with newer iPhones and Macs, including its ChatGPT integration. While Apple plans to run a significant portion of its AI directly on devices, certain tasks like Siri and Maps are handled in the cloud due to their heavy computing demands. In the coming years, Apple intends to roll out even more generative AI features, further expanding its AI offerings. 2: The introduction of these new server chips will play a vital role in supporting these future AI features. With increased computing power and optimized networking, Apple will be able to handle more complex AI tasks and provide a more seamless user experience. This is a strategic move that positions Apple at the forefront of the AI revolution.

Google made a significant announcement on Wednesday as it introduced its first-ever AI agent capable of taking actions on the web. This research prototype from DeepMind, named Project Mariner, holds the potential to revolutionize the way we interact with websites. The Gemini-powered agent takes control of the Chrome browser, moving the cursor, clicking buttons, and filling out forms, mimicking human behavior. Google is initially releasing this AI agent to a small group of pre-selected testers, marking the beginning of a new era in web interaction.

Google's AI Agent Transforms Web Interaction

How Project Mariner Works

After setting up the AI agent with a Chrome extension, a chat window appears on the right side of the browser. Users can instruct the agent to perform various tasks such as creating a shopping cart from a grocery store based on a given list. When in use, the agent navigates to the grocery store's website, in this case, Safeway, and searches for and adds items to a virtual shopping cart. However, it's important to note that the agent is relatively slow, with about 5 seconds of delay between each cursor movement. At times, it may stop its task and revert back to the chat window to seek clarification about certain items.Behind the scenes, the agent takes screenshots of the browser window, which users must agree to in the terms of service. These screenshots are sent to Gemini in the cloud for processing, and Gemini then sends instructions back to the computer to navigate the webpage.

Other AI Agents by Google

In addition to Project Mariner, Google unveiled several other AI agents for specific tasks. Deep Research aims to assist users in exploring complex topics by creating multi-step research plans. It competes with OpenAI's o1 in multi-step reasoning but is not designed for math, logical reasoning, or data analysis. The agent is rolling out in Gemini Advanced today and will be available in the Gemini app in 2025. When faced with a difficult or large question, Deep Research creates a multi-step action plan, takes a few minutes to answer, and generates a detailed report.Jules is another new AI agent designed to help developers with coding tasks. It integrates directly into GitHub workflows, allowing it to view existing work and make changes directly in GitHub. Jules is being rolled out to a select group of beta testers today and will be available later in 2025.Finally, Google DeepMind is working on an AI agent to assist in navigating video games, building on its expertise in game-playing AI. The company is collaborating with game developers like Supercell to test Gemini's ability to interpret gaming worlds such as "Clash of Clans." Although no release date was provided for this prototype, it is expected to have a significant impact on the gaming and virtual world landscape.It remains unclear when Project Mariner will be available to Google's massive userbase, but when it does, these AI agents will undoubtedly have a profound impact on the broader web. The web was designed for human use, but Google's AI agents may change that paradigm.