EON Raises $10.75M to Build Space-Based Laser Network for AI Data Centers
Top Picks
Stay Ahead of the Market
Get the latest startup funding, hiring trends and global opportunities delivered to your inbox every week.
EON Emerges from Stealth with $10.75 Million Seed Funding
Endeavor Optical Networks (EON), a U.S.-based space communications startup, has emerged from stealth with $10.75 million in seed funding.
The round was led by General Catalyst and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z).
Building Laser-Based Data Highways from Space
The company plans to replace parts of today's undersea fiber-optic infrastructure with a satellite network that uses laser communications to transfer massive amounts of data between continents.
Rather than relying solely on submarine cables—which are expensive to install, maintain, and repair—EON aims to create dedicated space-based optical links for hyperscalers, AI companies, and cloud providers.
Funding to Advance Space Optical Communications
The new capital will be used to:
Build an advanced optics laboratory
Expand engineering teams
Conduct ground-based optical communication tests
Prepare a demonstration satellite targeted for launch by the end of 2027
Targeting AI Infrastructure Bottlenecks
Led by Co-founder and CEO Charlie Horowitz and Co-founder and CTO Tyler Presser, EON is developing a constellation of approximately 20 laser-equipped satellites capable of delivering dedicated high-bandwidth links between continents.
The company is initially targeting routes with limited connectivity or high infrastructure costs, including connections between France and Australia and Africa and South America.
Its long-term goal is to provide throughput exceeding 2.4 terabits per second, significantly higher than existing commercial optical satellite communication systems.
Supporting the Next Generation of AI Connectivity
EON believes growing AI workloads and globally distributed data centers will require new networking infrastructure capable of moving enormous amounts of data with lower latency and greater resilience.
The company plans to sell dedicated network capacity to hyperscalers and AI laboratories that require secure, high-performance international data transfer.
