A startup founded just months ago wants to replace the world's undersea fiber optic cables with a network of laser-equipped satellites. Endeavor Optical Networks (EON) emerged from stealth today with $10.75 million in seed funding, backed by General Catalyst and Andreessen Horowitz. The company plans to launch roughly 20 satellites that will beam data between continents at speeds that could rival the physical cables that carry most of the world's internet traffic.
Undersea fiberoptic cables are brittle, tricky to access, repair, and install. They carry data at 200 terabits per second or more, but they break, they get snagged by ship anchors, and they take weeks to fix. EON's answer is a constellation of satellites using optical laser links to transmit data directly between data centers, bypassing the ocean floor entirely.
The problem with cables and radio
The current backbone of global connectivity is fragile. Undersea cables are the workhorses of the internet, but their physical limitations are well documented. They snap, they degrade, and replacing them is a slow, expensive process. Radio transmissions lack bandwidth for high-speed data, ruling out most wireless approaches. Most satellite communications networks, including broadband internet, can't carry data at 200 Tbps or more.
That gap is what EON wants to fill. The company's initial goal is throughput of 2.4 terabits per second per link, a massive jump from what has been demonstrated before. York, Kepler, and Cailabs, three private space companies, showed space-to-ground laser links with throughput of just 2.5 Gbps. NASA used laser comms for its most recent Moon mission, proving the technology works over long distances. But no one has yet built a commercial network at the scale EON is proposing.
Charlie Horowitz, CEO and co-founder of EON, says the timing is right. "There's a market that exists today that we can go serve. Down the road, we'll go and take on more as it comes, but we know that this is a problem that exists today, that's only getting worse. That's our bet, more data is moving terrestrially than ever."
A small fleet with a big ambition
EON plans to build a network of about 20 satellites, each providing a dedicated link between two continents. The initial fleet will provide 24-hour coverage for early customers. That is a much smaller constellation than what competitors are proposing, and it should be easier to get into space quickly.
Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos' space company, announced TeraWave, a 5,048 satellite network aiming for speeds up to 6 Tbps. That plan is more ambitious but will take longer to launch and deploy. EON's smaller fleet means the company can move faster, targeting specific routes where demand is highest.
Target routes include lengthy ones like France to Australia, and underserved ones like Africa to South America. EON is talking to hyperscalers and AI labs as potential customers. These companies are building data centers worldwide and need to move enormous amounts of data between them. EON plans to sell dedicated capacity for full control of data transit, a model that may appeal to customers who want guaranteed bandwidth.
Horowitz has a clear view of the market. "We have one rule at the company: no physics problems," he said. That rule reflects a pragmatic approach. The company will focus on producing an optical communications terminal, with careful spending on components like gimbals. EON plans to buy off-the-shelf satellite buses from Apex Space, a satellite bus manufacturer and Horowitz's previous employer.
The team behind the mission
Horowitz previously served as Apex CEO Ian Cinnamon's chief of staff and director of special projects. Cinnamon invested personally in EON and has high praise for his former colleague. "Charlie is a force of nature, he can move seamlessly from strategy to the details required to make something real," Cinnamon said.
Cinnamon added, "Charlie is the ideal founder, and I invested personally because I believe deeply in Charlie and what he's building at EON with Tyler."
Tyler Presser, CTO and co-founder of EON, holds a PhD in astronautical engineering and planned frontier missions for NASA. Michael David Francois, a technical team member, is a long-time Google executive focused on global network infrastructure. Wesley Baxter, an optics engineer, previously worked on Amazon's LEO satellite network.
The team's combined experience spans satellite design, network architecture, and optics. That mix is critical because the technical challenges are substantial. Laser links must contend with atmospheric distortion and cloud blockage. EON will choose ground stations in different regions, using redundant sites and weather data for reliability.
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Funding and the path to launch
The seed round will fund an optics lab, hire engineers, and support ground tests. General Catalyst partner Jeannette zu Fürstenburg led the investment. She sees EON as uniting AI and resilience themes. "I think all of that will solve for itself. It's really all about can you actually get this thing into space in the time that we discussed? We really think about founder-product fit, [Horowitz] is just the right caliber of guy to go after a problem like this," she said.
The company expects to launch a demo satellite around the end of 2027. That satellite is expected to offer the highest optical downlink throughput yet seen, at least 800 Gbps, possibly 1 Tbps. If successful, it would dwarf the 2.5 Gbps links demonstrated by York, Kepler, and Cailabs.
EON claims its approach will be more practical than building data centers in space, a popular idea in some corners of the industry. The company argues that keeping data centers on the ground and moving data between them with lasers is simpler and cheaper.
Skeptics and the road ahead
Not everyone is convinced. Caleb Henry, director of research at Quilty Space, offers a cautious view. "Data centers have high standards for quality and redundancy," he said.
Henry elaborated on the broader trend. "Satellite internet is just now progressing from a technology of last resort to dependable, high-bandwidth infrastructure. That's not to say it will be impossible to make satellites optimized for data center connectivity, just that it will be harder and take longer than most entrepreneurs suggest."
That skepticism is worth noting. Data centers require near-constant uptime. A satellite network that depends on clear skies and precise pointing has a lot to prove. EON's plan to use redundant ground stations and weather data is a start, but the company will need to demonstrate reliability over time.
The company's rule of "no physics problems" is a useful filter. The physics of laser communication is well understood. The engineering, however, is demanding. Building an optical terminal that can track a moving satellite from the ground, maintain a lock through atmospheric turbulence, and do it at 2.4 Tbps is a serious challenge.
The seed funding gives EON the runway to tackle that challenge. The $10.75 million round, co-led by General Catalyst and Andreessen Horowitz, is a strong vote of confidence in the team. The company will need more capital to build and launch its full constellation, but the demo satellite is the first milestone.
If EON succeeds, it could change how the world's data moves. Undersea cables have dominated for decades, but they are not the only option. Space lasers are real, and the technology is improving fast. The question is whether a 20-satellite fleet can match the reliability and capacity of the cables that already span the oceans.
The company is betting that it can. The market for intercontinental data transit is growing, and the existing infrastructure is straining. EON's pitch is simple: dedicated capacity, full control, and no ocean floor required.
For now, the company is focused on the demo satellite and the ground tests that will validate its technology. The end of 2027 is the target. If the demo works, the next step is building the full fleet. If it doesn't, the skeptics will have been right.
Either way, the race to replace undersea cables with space lasers is on. EON is not the only player, but it is moving fast. With a small fleet, a focused team, and a clear market, the company has a shot.