Sophia Space
Sophia Space is a Pasadena-based space-tech startup building modular, solar-powered orbital computing infrastructure (TILE platform) with proprietary passive cooling for defense agencies, satellite operators, and commercial space customers requiring real-time AI processing in orbit.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2023
- HeadquartersPasadena, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingHardware or Manufacturing
What Sophia Space does
Sophia Space is a Pasadena, California-based space-technology company founded in 2023 that is building modular, space-native orbital computing infrastructure for defense and commercial customers. The company's core product, the TILE (Thermal-Integrated LEO Edge) platform, is a 1m x 1m modular compute module integrating solar power, NVIDIA Jetson Orin processors, and proprietary passive radiative cooling technology licensed from Caltech and co-developed with NASA JPL. By eliminating active cooling systems, TILE directs up to 92% of generated solar power to compute (compared to roughly 60% efficiency in terrestrial data centers, where ~40% of energy is consumed by cooling), and a single 4-blade TILE delivers up to 800 TOPS of AI compute. The architecture is intended to scale from individual tiles to megawatt-class Orbital Data Centers (ODCs) by interlocking thousands of modules in the 2030s.
Sophia sells and licenses three product lines: (1) TILE hardware sold as OEM payloads integrated onto third-party satellite buses (e.g., Apex Nova), (2) SOOS, a proprietary radiation-aware operating system for fault-tolerant distributed compute in orbit, and (3) a future subscription-based Orbital Data Center service. The go-to-market motion combines direct enterprise sales to defense agencies, satellite operators, and commercial space companies with an embedded/OEM model positioning TILE as a building block for partner platforms. Strategic customers and partners include Kepler Communications (SOOS validation on in-orbit network), Armada (integrated Earth-to-space edge AI platform), Axiom Space (MoU for Golden Dome defense initiative), and the U.S. Department of Defense as a target end-user for hypersonic threat detection and sensor-to-shooter timing applications.
Sophia Space has raised $22 million cumulatively across a $3.5M pre-seed (May 2025, Unlock Ventures), $10M seed (February 2026, co-led by Alpha Funds, KDDI Green Partners Fund, and Unlock Venture Partners), and a $7M SAFE (June 2026, led by EverGreen / NVIDIA Alumni Investment Network with SparkLabs Group). The company employs approximately 25 people in Pasadena, is led by CEO Rob DeMillo (9x founder, ex-JPL and Lincoln Labs) and founder/CTO Dr. Leon Alkalai (retired JPL Fellow, founder of Mandala Space Ventures), and is advised by former NASA Administrator Dan Goldin and former SpaceX VP Hans Koenigsmann. The first in-orbit TILE demonstration is scheduled for 2027 with Apex Space, and SOOS validation on Kepler's distributed compute network is scheduled to begin in Q4 2026.
Sophia Space firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Sophia Space
- Legal name
- Sophia Space Inc.
- Website
- https://sophia.space
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2023
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Sophia Space is a Pasadena-based space-tech startup building modular, solar-powered orbital computing infrastructure (TILE platform) with proprietary passive cooling for defense agencies, satellite operators, and commercial space customers requiring real-time AI processing in orbit.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Sophia Space industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Orbital Edge Computing Infrastructure
- NAICS
- Other Guided Missile and Space Vehicle Parts and Auxiliary Equipment Manufacturing (336419), Satellite Telecommunications (517410), Search, Detection, Navigation, Guidance, Aeronautical, and Nautical System and Instrument Manufacturing (334511)
- SIC
- Guided Missiles & Space Vehicles & Parts (3760), Industrial Instruments For Measurement, Display, And Control (3823)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Spacecraft Avionics, Flight Computers & Software (IMABACAI)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Space Payloads & Instruments (Sensors, Comms, EO/IR) (IMABACAD), Space Structures, Mechanisms & Thermal Control (IMABACAF), Satellite, GNSS & Positioning RF ICs (HDAHAMAJ)
Keywords
Where Sophia Space is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Pasadena
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Sophia Space business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Hardware or Manufacturing
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- TILE Compute Module Sales: Sale of modular TILE compute hardware to satellite operators, defense contractors, and commercial space companies. Modules are sold as payloads integrated onto existing satellite platforms, enabling customers to add orbital edge computing capabilities without building proprietary infrastructure.
- Sophia Orbital OS (SOOS) Licensing: Licensing of proprietary orbital operating system software for distributed compute operations in space. Software supports fault-tolerant, radiation-aware computing with resilient distributed operations across multiple nodes.
- Orbital Data Center Services: Future plans to offer subscription-based orbital compute services where customers can subscribe to Sophia Satellites for heavy AI workloads, providing compute-as-a-service from orbital data centers.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Multi-year contract | Sophia TILE Module - autonomous 4-blade AI edge server |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels6 records
Sophia Space product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Sophia Space designs, manufactures, and sells the TILE (Thermal-Integrated LEO Edge) platform — modular 1m x 1m solar-powered, passively cooled compute modules for orbital edge AI inference. The product suite includes BLADE single-board computers (four per TILE, up to 800 TOPS), the TILE module itself, the SOOS fault-tolerant orbital operating system, and a planned full-scale Sophia Orbital Data Center (ODC) scaling to ~1 MW. TILEs are sold as OEM payloads integrated onto third-party satellite buses, with SOOS available via licensing and future ODC capacity planned as a subscription service.
Product overview
Sophia Space offers a modular, space-native orbital compute suite built around its TILE (Thermal-Integrated LEO Edge) architecture. The product family consists of BLADE single-board computers (four comprise a TILE), the TILE modular computing module with integrated solar power and passive cooling, SOOS (Sophia Orbital Operating System) for fault-tolerant orbital computing, and the full-scale Sophia Orbital Data Center (ODC) built from thousands of interconnected TILEs. The architecture unifies power, compute, and thermal management with 92% of generated power directed to computing.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- TILE (Thermal-Integrated LEO Edge): Modular orbital compute platform that unifies power, compute, and thermal management. Features passive cooling technology for space environments, designed for edge and AI inference workloads.
- BLADE
- SOOS (Sophia Orbital Operating System)
Products and services
- TILE (Thermal-Integrated LEO Edge) Modular 1m x 1m solar-powered AI edge server designed for rapid integration across diverse satellite buses and space station platforms. Each TILE contains four Sophia Blades delivering up to 800 TOPS, with integrated passive thermal management using space cooling and high-bandwidth networking. Engineered for the vacuum of space with proprietary radiative cooling technology.
- BLADE High-performance single board computer (SBC) that serves as the fundamental compute node within the TILE architecture. Four BLADE units comprise a single TILE module, delivering up to 800 TOPS of AI compute capability.
- SOOS (Sophia Orbital Operating System) Proprietary operating system designed for fault-tolerant, radiation-aware computing in orbital environments. Supports resilient distributed operations, allowing workloads to dynamically shift across nodes, maintain uptime, and continue processing amid partial system failures. Licensed to satellite operators and commercial space companies.
- Sophia Orbital Data Center (ODC) Full-scale orbital data center formed by interlocking thousands of TILE modules. Targeted to deliver approximately 1 MW of computational power by the 2030s. Patent pending design (CIT-9075-P) featuring modular constellation architecture with no on-orbit assembly required. To be offered via subscription to customers running heavy AI workloads.
Quantifiable outcome
- 92% of solar power directed to computing vs. 40% for terrestrial data centers
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Sophia Space
Customer profileNamed customers4 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Sophia Space technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration2 records
AI capability8 records
Feature5 records
Sophia Space partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core, minor and major.
- Apex SpacecoreApex supplying Nova satellite bus platform for Sophia's 2027 demo mission demonstrating TILE real-time orbital computing modules. Partnership provides reliable, scalable path to bring edge computing capabilities to orbit using Apex's proven satellite platform, closing critical gap in going-to-market timeline.
- Kepler CommunicationscoreCommercial agreement to deploy Sophia's ODC software on Kepler's distributed in-orbit compute network for validation testing, starting Q4 2026. Initial use cases include AI-driven weather forecasting and space domain awareness analytics using Kepler's optical data relay network.
- Outpost TechnologiesminorJoint exploratory effort evaluating integration of Sophia's TILE compute platform with Outpost's Carryall Earth-return vehicle for testing and retrieval of computing hardware from orbital conditions to shorten design-build-fly cycles.
- ArmadacoreLaunch of fully integrated Earth-to-space scalable compute infrastructure combining Armada's Galleon ground edge data centers with Sophia's TILE orbital compute modules and SOOS. Platform delivers real-time AI, autonomous analytics, and resilient data orchestration across land, sea, air, and space.
- NVIDIAcoreTechnology partnership as NVIDIA Inception member and Jetson partner. Integration of NVIDIA Jetson Orin edge processors into TILE modules enabling real-time AI processing in orbit. Featured alongside NVIDIA's Space-1 Vera Rubin Module launch at GTC 2026.
- Mandala Space VenturescoreVenture studio and fund that incubated Sophia Space in 2023, founded by Dr. Leon Alkalai. Provides ongoing investment and operational support for new space technology ventures.
- Axiom SpacemajorMoU collaboration to demonstrate ODCs as functional elements for national defense architecture under Golden Dome initiative. Sophia's tile-based approach viewed as foundation for ODCs scalable to MWs of cumulative processing power.
- Orbital RoboticsminorLetter of Intent to explore potential areas of mutual interest related to on-orbit AI computing and robotic manufacturing use cases. Examining how Sophia's modular computing concepts could support autonomous robotic systems in space.
Scale indicators7 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Sophia Space competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Kepler Communications: Kepler operates a distributed in-orbit compute and optical data relay network. As Sophia's anchor validation partner running SOOS on its satellites, Kepler is the closest direct peer in orbital edge compute and is itself a likely competitor for the same DoD/commercial workloads.
- Loft Orbital: Loft Orbital provides satellite-as-a-service with hosted payload infrastructure, allowing customers to fly sensors and compute on shared satellite buses. Comparable to Sophia's OEM-embedded model of selling compute as a hosted payload on third-party buses.
- Apex Space: Apex manufactures the Nova satellite bus that Sophia is integrating TILE compute modules onto for the 2027 demo. Apex is both a critical partner and an adjacent competitor in space-infrastructure-as-a-service for commercial and government customers.
- D-Orbit: D-Orbit provides in-orbit services including satellite deployment, hosted payloads, and on-orbit compute experiments. Its in-orbit infrastructure focus and hosted-payload model overlap with Sophia's orbital compute delivery approach.
Broad incumbents
- Axiom Space: Axiom is building commercial space stations and partnered with Sophia on the Golden Dome MoU for orbital data centers as functional defense elements. It is a broader incumbent in commercial space infrastructure with overlapping government and defense customers.
- Redwire Corporation: Redwire is a publicly traded space infrastructure company providing spacecraft hardware, in-orbit services, and space-qualified compute and avionics. Its space electronics and deployable structures portfolio overlaps with Sophia's thermal and compute hardware IP.
- Voyager Space (incl. Vast): Voyager/Vast is building commercial space stations and space infrastructure with government and commercial customers. As a broader commercial space infrastructure incumbent, it represents an adjacent competitive vector for Sophia's orbital data center vision.
- Amazon AWS Ground Station: AWS Ground Station and Azure Orbital offer cloud-edge space services and may integrate orbital compute in the future. As hyperscalers with vastly larger balance sheets, they represent the most consequential competitive threat to Sophia's data-center-in-orbit thesis.
Emerging players
- LeoLabs: LeoLabs operates a global network of phased-array radars for space domain awareness and orbital monitoring. While focused on tracking rather than general compute, it shares Sophia's emerging-market profile of space-based sensing services needing real-time orbital processing.
Others
- Planet Labs: Planet is the largest commercial Earth-observation constellation operator and a likely downstream customer/user of orbital edge compute. As a buyer of in-orbit processing rather than a builder, it represents demand-side adjacency rather than direct competition.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Sophia Space social profiles
Digital presenceSophia Space financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Sophia Space leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles10 records
Sophia Space funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds5 records
Investors7 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Sophia Space M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Sophia Space
What does Sophia Space do?
Sophia Space designs, manufactures, and sells the TILE (Thermal-Integrated LEO Edge) platform — modular 1m x 1m solar-powered, passively cooled compute modules for orbital edge AI inference. The product suite includes BLADE single-board computers (four per TILE, up to 800 TOPS), the TILE module itself, the SOOS fault-tolerant orbital operating system, and a planned full-scale Sophia Orbital Data Center (ODC) scaling to ~1 MW. TILEs are sold as OEM payloads integrated onto third-party satellite buses, with SOOS available via licensing and future ODC capacity planned as a subscription service.
Is Sophia Space a public or private company?
Sophia Space is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Sophia Space founded?
Sophia Space was founded in 2023. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Sophia Space based?
Sophia Space is headquartered in Pasadena, United States, in the North America region.
How does Sophia Space make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. TILE Compute Module Sales are the primary driver. The others are sophia Orbital OS (SOOS) Licensing and orbital Data Center Services.
Who are Sophia Space's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Kepler Communications, Loft Orbital, Apex Space and D-Orbit. Broad incumbents are Axiom Space, Redwire Corporation, Voyager Space (incl. Vast) and Amazon AWS Ground Station. LeoLabs is listed as an emerging player. Planet Labs is listed as an others.
Does Sophia Space have an API?
No public API is recorded for Sophia Space.
What industry is Sophia Space in?
Sophia Space's product category is Orbital Edge Computing Infrastructure. Its primary akta.pro industry code is IMABACAI, Spacecraft Avionics, Flight Computers & Software, with a secondary code of IMABACAD, Space Payloads & Instruments (Sensors, Comms, EO/IR). Its NAICS code is 336419 and its SIC code is 3760.