How an e-scooter founder raised $5 million to build space data centers

Here’s one metric for tracking SpaceX’s IPO later this week: The company has changed the venture industry’s perspective on long-term, capital-intensive space so much that a talented founder with no space experience can fund a space data center company.

Orbital, a new firm that emerged in May from a16z’s startup accelerator program Speedrun with a $5 million seed round, is the latest company promising to do inference in space — just as soon as Starship is flying regularly. Other investors include Basis Set, Human Element, Wayfinder, Antler, Anti Fund, Ascent, Rubik, Zero Knowledge Ventures, LYVC, Feld Ventures, New Legacy, FNDR, UpHonest and Asterisk.

Founder and CEO Euwyn Poon previously founded e-scooter company Spin in 2017 and sold it to Forda year later, joining the automotive giant. When he was ready to start a new company, a16z’s Speedrun was eager to get on board, according to partner Andrew Chen, who...

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