ROB DeMILLO - CEO of Sophia Space - Solar-Powered, Space-Cooled, AI-ReadyCompute

Sophia Space is building the future of in-space high performance computing for the emerging LEO economy

Pasadena, CA – May 19, 2025 – Sophia Space Inc., a pioneer in modular, solar powered, passively cooled, and AI-optimized compute technology for space applications, today announced the closing of a $3.5 million Pre-Seed round of financing. The round was led by Unlock Venture Partners, with participation from strategic angels and industry leaders. The funding will accelerate the company's development and deployment of its breakthrough TILE™ platform, enabling low-latency delivery, energy-efficient, AI processing in space.

Founded by NASA decorated space systems engineer and retired JPL Fellow, Dr. Leon Alkalai, and incubated at Mandala Space Ventures, Sophia Space is further developing technology that came out of Caltech and NASA JPL research addressing the rapidly growing need for in-orbit processing, AI acceleration, and edge computing across satellites, defense systems, and commercial space operations.

"We are at the dawn of a new era where our demand for AI technology should not come at the expense of our planetary health due to energy constraints," said Dr. Leon Alkalai, Founder and Chairman of Sophia Space. "Our modular Sophia TILEs unlock a future of scalable, energy-efficient, orbital compute infrastructure, from satellites and space stations to full-scale orbital data centers (ODCs) that will augment terrestrial data centers of the future.” 

The company’s TILE™ architecture features solid-state, self-sustaining compute modules with space cooling and integrated solar power—offering a radiation-resistant, vendor-agnostic solution designed specifically for the harsh environment of space. "Our customers—from satellite operators to commercial space stations—simply want their data processed and delivered more rapidly," said Rob DeMillo, CEO of Sophia Space. "Sophia delivers orbital edge computing—processing workloads directly in space, near the source of data, and dramatically reducing the time to insight on Earth.” 

Sophia Space has already gained traction with major players in the sector. Jason Aspiotis, Global Director for In-Space Data and Security Growth at Axiom Space, praised Sophia’s approach: "Sophia’s Tile-based approach lays the foundations for ODCs scalable to MWs of cumulative processing power via a distributed network of ODC nodes. Axiom Space and Sophia have an MoU to collaborate on demonstrating the critical role ODCs can play in realizing “Golden Dome” as a functional element of our national defense architecture."

TILE - Sophia T1

About Sophia Space Inc. Sophia Space is building the future of in-space high performance computing for the emerging LEO economy. Its modular TILE™ technology enables scalable in-situ data processing, AI acceleration, and edge computing for satellites, defense systems, and commercial space stations—eliminating bottlenecks and reducing latency by moving compute closer to the source of data and rapidly delivering it where it is most critically needed on Earth.

Rob De Millo, Sophia Space CEO

Learn more at www.sophia.space and watch the founders video here.