Apolink, a Y Combinator-backed space tech startup, has raised $4.3 million in an “oversubscribed” seed round at a $45 million post-money valuation to build a real-time connectivity network for satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO).
This startup, which was founded by 19-year-old Onkar Singh Batra, tackles the problem of satellites going offline in space due to “dead zones” — periods when they are not in the line of sight of a ground station. While partial solutions are provided by relay satellites and ground station networks, which reduce the downtime, Apolink aims to solve the issue by providing 24/7 connectivity to LEO satellites with each orbital ring designed to handle 256 users at 9.6 kbps.
“LEO has its own advantages,” Batra said in an interview with TechCrunch. “It’s much closer than geostationary orbit, which means closing the link between the customer satellite and our constellation is way easier… that’s where you make the power requirements limited, and that’s where the compatibility comes in as well.”
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Batra first developed an interest in space in 2020, when he was only 14. In 2022, he created a satellite system named InQube which emerged as India’s first open source satellite. He also taught space ecosystems to engineering students as a guest professor at IIT Jammu in 2022 and 2023. He recognized the connectivity problem while working on his first satellite system. He also noticed that the existing solutions did not provide backward compatibility, requiring specific hardware to enable network access in orbit.
“We solve this [through] our hybrid-RF optical architecture and no user terminal, hardware-independent approach,” Batra stated. While some companies have tried to resolve the issue by building new ground stations, Batra believes those are cumbersome, and can’t guarantee a 24/7 link. “The maximum you can afford is a reliable continuous link to the ground during the window,” he said.
Apolink plans to use a constellation of 32 satellites that include lasers and radios to enable connectivity even for satellites that lack specific hardware. It aims to offer almost 99% uptime and 10 to 15 seconds of latency. The latency will be further reduced to 2 to 3 seconds once the network is established.
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Other companies like Amazon’s Kuiper and SpaceX’s Starlink are also trying to resolve this issue by building inter-satellite links. However, Batra says most players with multipurpose constellations do not dedicate them to virtual relays, resulting in limited bandwidth available for customers. They also require customers to have an optical terminal installed on their site for connectivity.
The company plans its first demo mission on a SpaceX rideshare in 2026, followed by a second in 2027, with full commercial rollout by 2029. So far, Apolink has secured over $140 million in letters of intent from companies in Earth observation, communications, and spatial data, including Astro Digital and Hubble Network.
The seed round was backed by Y Combinator, 468 Capital, Unshackled Ventures, Rebel Fund, Maiora Ventures, and several angel investors, including Laura Crabtree (CEO of Epsilon3), Benjamin Bryant (co-founder of Pebble Tech), and Kanav Kariya (president of Jump Crypto).