Apolink

What do they actually do

Apolink is building an in‑orbit relay system to give low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites near‑continuous links to the ground without requiring new user hardware on customer spacecraft. Today they are pre‑commercial: the team is focused on engineering, integration and regulatory work, and has raised a $4.3M seed round while joining YC’s Fall 2024 batch [YC, TechCrunch](https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/apolink, https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/11/yc-backed-apolink-by-19-year-old-bags-4-3m-to-build-24-7-connectivity-for-leo-satellites/).

Their first step is a 3U cubesat technology demonstrator planned on a SpaceX rideshare in 2026 to prove reception from other LEO satellites (via RF/optical), forwarding to ground stations, and backward compatibility with existing spacecraft radios. GomSpace is supplying the RF subsystem for this demo; Apolink is handling integration, software, and interoperability protocols [SpaceNews, DCD](https://spacenews.com/gomspace-to-provide-rf-subsystem-for-apolink-leo-relay-demonstrator/, https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/19-year-old-entrepreneur-raises-43m-for-leo-connectivity-satellite-network/). The company reports early commercial interest via letters of intent (press mentions >$140M) and says it holds FCC authorizations intended to simplify customer licensing once service is available [TechCrunch, DCD, YC](https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/11/yc-backed-apolink-by-19-year-old-bags-4-3m-to-build-24-7-connectivity-for-leo-satellites/, https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/19-year-old-entrepreneur-raises-43m-for-leo-connectivity-satellite-network/, https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/apolink).

Longer term, Apolink aims to deploy a first‑generation constellation (press reports cite ~32 satellites) targeting near‑continuous contact, initial latency in the 10–15 second range improving to ~2–3 seconds as coverage scales, and capacity sufficient for many telemetry/command and bursty EO use cases. These are targets, not live service metrics today [TechCrunch, SpaceNews](https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/11/yc-backed-apolink-by-19-year-old-bags-4-3m-to-build-24-7-connectivity-for-leo-satellites/, https://spacenews.com/gomspace-to-provide-rf-subsystem-for-apolink-leo-relay-demonstrator/).

Who are their target customer(s)

• Earth‑observation (EO) operators: They wait hours between passes to downlink imagery and telemetry, which makes data stale and slows operational decisions. Near‑real‑time delivery improves tasking, responsiveness, and product value [TechCrunch, DCD](https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/11/yc-backed-apolink-by-19-year-old-bags-4-3m-to-build-24-7-connectivity-for-leo-satellites/, https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/19-year-old-entrepreneur-raises-43m-for-leo-connectivity-satellite-network/).
• Smallsat and satellite IoT constellation operators: They want near‑continuous command/telemetry without redesigning satellites or building dense ground networks; adding new user hardware increases cost and schedule risk [TechCrunch, YC](https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/11/yc-backed-apolink-by-19-year-old-bags-4-3m-to-build-24-7-connectivity-for-leo-satellites/, https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/apolink).
• Universities and research teams flying cubesats or short‑lived missions: Intermittent contact windows complicate experiments and risk losing ephemeral data during brief mission lifetimes [SpaceNews, DCD](https://spacenews.com/gomspace-to-provide-rf-subsystem-for-apolink-leo-relay-demonstrator/, https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/19-year-old-entrepreneur-raises-43m-for-leo-connectivity-satellite-network/).
• Operators of legacy satellites that can’t be retrofitted: They face costly bespoke integrations to access modern low‑latency services, or accept long delays between passes TechCrunch.
• Commercial and government programs needing high‑availability command and control: Coverage gaps increase operational risk and complicate licensing; they want predictable, simple links with minimal new regulatory overhead [YC, DCD](https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/apolink, https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/19-year-old-entrepreneur-raises-43m-for-leo-connectivity-satellite-network/).

How would they acquire their first 10, 50, and 100 customers

• First 10: Convert existing LOIs into paid pilots tied to the 2026 cubesat demo: offer discounted pilot credits, hands‑on integration to prove backward compatibility/latency, and process customer regulatory filings under Apolink’s authorizations [TechCrunch, DCD, SpaceNews](https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/11/yc-backed-apolink-by-19-year-old-bags-4-3m-to-build-24-7-connectivity-for-leo-satellites/, https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/19-year-old-entrepreneur-raises-43m-for-leo-connectivity-satellite-network/, https://spacenews.com/gomspace-to-provide-rf-subsystem-for-apolink-leo-relay-demonstrator/).
• First 50: Partner with subsystem/bus vendors (e.g., certification and co‑selling with GomSpace) and ground‑station aggregators to create a simple integration path; run cohort pilots focused on EO, smallsat/IoT, and universities, leveraging YC and press to recruit fast‑ROI use cases [SpaceNews, YC, TechCrunch](https://spacenews.com/gomspace-to-provide-rf-subsystem-for-apolink-leo-relay-demonstrator/, https://www.ycombinator.com/companies/apolink, https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/11/yc-backed-apolink-by-19-year-old-bags-4-3m-to-build-24-7-connectivity-for-leo-satellites/).
• First 100: Publish standardized integration guides and pricing, turn early pilots into reference case studies with measured latency/data‑delivery gains, and expand via channels (bus OEMs, launch brokers, ground networks) to reach legacy and small government programs; support low‑touch onboarding through a developer portal [DCD, TechCrunch](https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/19-year-old-entrepreneur-raises-43m-for-leo-connectivity-satellite-network/, https://techcrunch.com/2025/07/11/yc-backed-apolink-by-19-year-old-bags-4-3m-to-build-24-7-connectivity-for-leo-satellites/).

What is the rough total addressable market

Top-down context:

Analysts size the satellite ground station/connectivity market in the tens of billions annually: MarketsandMarkets estimates ~$40.99B in 2025 growing to ~$82.72B by 2030, while TBRC cites ~$63.36B in 2025 using a broader definition [MarketsandMarkets, TBRC](https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/PressReleases/satellite-ground-station.asp, https://www.thebusinessresearchcompany.com/report/satellite-ground-station-global-market-report).

Bottom-up calculation:

Key buyer segments for an in‑orbit relay include EO (≈$5.1B in 2024) and satellite IoT (≈$1.5–$2.0B in 2024). If 20–40% of these segments’ spend relates to connectivity/ground and a share can shift to relay services, the directly addressable spend is plausibly on the order of $2B–$10B/year today, growing with LEO deployments [Grand View (EO), GMI (satellite IoT)](https://www.marketresearch.com/Grand-View-Research-v4060/Earth-Observation-Size-Share-Trends-41602775/, https://www.gminsights.com/industry-analysis/satellite-iot-market).

Assumptions:

• 20–40% of EO and satellite IoT budgets are tied to communications/ground access that can be served by relay.
• Relay services are priced competitively with GSaaS/ground networks and can interoperate with existing spacecraft without major retrofits.
• LEO satellite counts and data volumes continue to grow through the decade, expanding the connectivity spend pool.

Who are some of their notable competitors

• Kepler Communications: Provides on‑orbit data‑relay services (RF and optical) so satellites can offload data for faster ground delivery; has demonstrated optical relay links in LEO, positioning it as a direct alternative to new relay networks [Kepler, SpaceNews](https://kepler.space/kepler-announces-launch-date-for-first-tranche-of-optical-satellites/, https://spacenews.com/kepler-demonstrates-optical-data-relay-service-in-leo/).
• SpaceLink: Developing a MEO relay constellation for continuous, high‑capacity links from LEO to ground, targeting EO and government users with RF/optical intersatellite links SpaceLink.
• Analytical Space: Pursuing a hybrid RF/optical relay network (FastPixel) designed to take data from existing satellites and forward it to ground; emphasizes compatibility and service to EO operators [StartUs, HBS case](https://www.startus-insights.com/innovators-guide/5-top-emerging-small-satellite-startups/, https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=55502).
• Swarm Technologies: Low‑bandwidth store‑and‑forward messaging/IoT telemetry via a dense smallsat constellation; a lower‑throughput, lower‑cost option that serves some smallsat/IoT needs addressed by relay services [Wikipedia, SpaceNews](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swarm_Technologies, https://spacenews.com/swarm-of-tiny-satellites-could-relay-messages-by-years-end/).
• KSAT (Kongsberg Satellite Services): Largest commercial ground‑station network; can reduce contact gaps via dense ground coverage. KSAT is also developing “Hyper” orbiting ground stations to further cut latency, overlapping with in‑space relay value [KSAT, DCD](https://www.ksat.no/news/news-archive/20152/ksat-launches-hyper-to-reduce-latency/, https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/ksat-to-launch-fleet-of-ground-station-satellites/).