Astranis raises $250 million for its GEO internet

Paris, 16 April 2021. – A step into GEO: The San Francisco-based Astranis, a company that wants to offer satellite internet via small and light geostationary satellites, raised $250 million at a valuation of $1.4 billion, CNBC reported.

The company raised $250 million and reached a $1.4 billion valuation, Astranis CEO John Gedmark told CNBC, in a round led by BlackRock and joined by Baillie Gifford, Fidelity, Koch Strategic Platforms, Monashee Investment Management and Uncorrelated Ventures, CNBC said.

The new round brings Astranis’ total funding to more than $350 million since its founding in 2015, according to the business channel.

The company is finishing work on its first commercial satellite for launch on a SpaceX rocket in the fourth quarter, the report said.

The satellite will be positioned above Alaska, where Astranis’ first customer, Pacific Dataport, will use it to “triple the data speeds available to people across the state”, with service beginning in first quarter 2022.