The funds raised will help the company introduce its next generation of satellites, grow its team, and establish a US office.
Kepler Communications has raised $60 million in an oversubscribed Series B funding round, and announced plans to expand to the United States.
Kepler is a Canada-based startup with 15 Ku-band satellites in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) that offer satellite internet.
This Series B fundraising round, was led by Tribe Capital, and includes participation from a host of new investors including Canaan Partners. Existing investors including IA Ventures, and Costanoa Ventures also participated signalling their conviction in the companys progress and market opportunity. This brings the total funding raised to date by Kepler to over USD$90m.
Keplers ambition is to provide internet outside of Earth for the booming space economy. Kepler designs, builds, and operates satellites that are 1/10th the size and cost of alternatives to provide satellite communication services. Its network provides the much-needed capacity to the Maritime, Aviation, and Government markets on Earth and will soon extend coverage outside of Earth for applications like Earth Observation and Space Tourism.
Mina Mitry, CEO and Co-Founder of Kepler Communication, said: “This new funding not only allows us to continue our revenue growth using existing satellites, but also enables us to introduce new services in support of our growing customer base. We are pleased to have Tribe Capital leading the round given the deep domain expertise theyve built through investments like Relativity Space. We are seeing increasing demand for our products and services within the US market and by creating a local entity we will be better positioned to provide value, and boots-on-the-ground support for current and future customers in the US. The US market is obviously a particularly important one for us, especially as we develop the internet in space due to the high level of innovative space activity from private entities.
The funds raised will help Kepler introduce their next-generation satellites as they increase the size of their network.
Wen Cheng Chong, CTO and Co-Founder, added: “Building the internet in space is the guiding mission at Kepler. Our next generation of satellites will expand our coverage beyond Earth providing internet connectivity to people, devices, satellites and more in orbit. There is a growing need to get data generated in space back to earth, and this is a need Kepler is uniquely qualified to address. This is an exciting time for those of us at Kepler as we create an essential part of the infrastructure needed for humanity to look toward a future beyond Earths atmosphere.”
Additionally, the funds from Series B will be used to enhance the size and calibre of the team at Kepler Communications.
Mark Michael, Chief Architect and Co-Founder, stated: This funding helps Kepler continue its market leadership position; we will be retaining and competing for the best talent globally. Our success is only attributable to the team weve built, and to that end, we will continue to seek out the best and brightest who share our values.”
