Startup building portable AI data centers for remote work expands Seattle-area hub to 120 people – GeekWire
A heavily funded San Francisco-based startup called Armada is building a large engineering presence in Bellevue, Wash., as demand grows for AI infrastructure that can operate beyond the walls of traditional data centers.
The 4-year-old company, which builds ruggedized computer systems that enable satellite communications in remote locations such as oil fields, mines and military bases, now employs about 120 people at Bellevue’s Sunset Corporate Campus along the I-90 corridor.
Armada raised $131 million in funding last summer, including funding from Microsoft, Founder’s Fund, Lux Capital and others. The total funding is over $200 million.
How its technology is used: Armada tries to solve a growing problem in the era of AI: to bring powerful computing to places where the Internet connection is unreliable, absent or too sensitive to rely on external networks.
That includes the oil fields of Northern Canada, the coffee plantations of Colombia – and, closer to home, the vast evergreen forests of Washington state.
The Washington State Department of Natural Resources, which coordinates wildfire response across 5.6 million acres, is using Armada’s Atlas platform to integrate Starlink Internet systems and provide emergency workers with more reliable communications in remote areas, where conventional broadband is limited. This has become critical as bushfire operations rely heavily on drones, satellite imagery and real-time data.
In addition, Armada builds portable, modular data centers, which they call Galleons, that bring connectivity to the edge of the network. Instead of sending data back and forth to centralized data centers, it allows customers to process and analyze information locally, in real time.
That’s important because AI systems increasingly require large amounts of computing power and immediate feedback. In areas with poor connectivity, relying on remote cloud infrastructure may introduce delays, security concerns or operational risks.
More places to stay in Armada: The Bellevue office serves as a hub for the company’s hardware and software engineering teams.
Armada chose the Seattle area three years ago as an engineering center, because of the influx of experienced engineers from companies like Microsoft and Amazon who can “build and operate at scale,” Justin O’Kelly, Armada’s head of communications, said in an email.
“Simply speaking, this region has something you don’t always find in a tech hub: developers who have shipped real products to scale, not just written code,” O’Kelly said.
Because Armada’s systems are deployed in settings such as mines and battlefields, they must operate without fail – there is no IT department to call in the field. The platform is designed to allow organizations to run AI-powered operations anywhere, even without an existing internet connection.
The Bellevue office is led by Kenny Hsu, who serves as chief business officer, and Prag Mishra, chief AI officer. Mishra previously spent more than a decade at Amazon, working on Prime Air, Amazon Health and Amazon Logistics, and before that was head of research for the Bing Geospatial program at Microsoft. Hsu previously ran revenue operations at AuditBoard, which sold Hg for $3 billion by 2024.
The 400-person company currently has more than 20 open positions in AI engineering, infrastructure, security, and product management in Bellevue.
Microsoft partnership: The startup is also expanding its partnership with Microsoft, whose arm, M12, invested in the company’s early rounds.
Recently, Armada signed an agreement to integrate Microsoft’s Azure Local and Foundry Local with its modular infrastructure, aimed at implementing AI systems at the edge where data cannot leave the site.
The partnership reflects a broader shift, where companies are rushing to move AI systems outside of traditional cloud environments, closer to where data is generated.
That trend has become more important in security technology, where connections cannot always be guaranteed and sensitive data cannot be compromised.
Main image: The expansion of the Armada in the region speaks to the growing trend in defense technology.
- Last month, GeekWire covered Anduril Industries’ expansion into the old Foss Shipyard in Seattle where it designs new autonomous warships.
- Seattle-based Overland AI raised $100 million in funding earlier this year to continue meeting demand for its autonomous vehicles used by the US military.
RELATED: See GeekWire’s list of Seattle-area engineering outposts.
