A heavily-funded San Francisco-based startup by the name of Armada is quietly building a major engineering presence in Bellevue, Wash., as demand surges for AI infrastructure that can operate beyond the walls of traditional data centers.
The 4-year-old company, which builds rugged computing systems that enable satellite connectivity in remote settings like oil fields, mines and military sites, 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 backing from Microsoft, Founder’s Fund, Lux Capital and others. Total funding stands at more than $200 million.
How its technology is used: Armada is trying to solve a growing problem in the AI era: bringing powerful computing to places where internet connectivity is unreliable, nonexistent or too sensitive to rely on outside 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 centralize Starlink internet systems and give emergency crews more reliable connectivity in the remote areas, where traditional broadband is limited. This has become critical as wildfire operations increasingly rely on drones, satellite imagery and real-time data.
In addition, Armada builds portable, modular data centers, which it calls Galleons, that bring connectivity to the edge of the network. Instead of sending data back and forth to centralized data centers, it lets customers process and analyze information locally, in real time.
That matters because AI systems increasingly require large amounts of computing power and near-instant responses. In environments with poor connectivity, relying on distant cloud infrastructure can introduce delays, security concerns or operational risks.
Armada’s Seattle-area operations: The Bellevue office serves as the hub of the company’s hardware and software engineering teams.
Armada chose the Seattle area three years ago for the engineering center, due to the concentration of experienced engineers from companies like Microsoft and Amazon who know how to “build and operate at massive scale,” said Justin O’Kelly, head of communications at Armada, via email.
“Practically speaking, this region has something you don’t always find in a tech hub: engineers who have shipped real products at scale, not just written code,” O’Kelly said.
Because Armada’s systems are deployed in settings like mines and military sites, they have to work without fail — there’s no IT department to call in the field. The platform is designed to let organizations run AI-powered operations anywhere, even without existing internet connectivity.
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 the head of research for the Bing Geospatial program at Microsoft. Hsu previously ran revenue operations at AuditBoard, which sold to Hg for $3 billion in 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 has also expanded its relationship with Microsoft, whose venture arm, M12, invested in the company’s early rounds.
More recently, Armada signed an agreement to combine Microsoft’s Azure Local and Foundry Local with its modular infrastructure, aimed at running AI systems in edge environments where data can’t leave the site.
The partnership reflects a broader shift, where companies are racing to deploy AI systems outside traditional cloud environments, closer to where data is actually generated.
That trend has become especially important in defense technology, where connectivity can’t always be guaranteed and sensitive data cannot be compromised.
Big picture: Armada’s expansion in the region speaks to a growing trend around defense tech.
- Last month, GeekWire covered the expansion of Anduril Industries at the old Foss Shipyard in Seattle where it’s designing new autonomous warships.
- Seattle-based Overland AI raised $100 million in funding earlier this year to continue to meet demand for its autonomous ground vehicles used by the U.S. military.
RELATED: See GeekWire’s list of Seattle-area engineering outposts.
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