Infostellar, a Japanese Ground-Segment-as-a-Service (GSaaS) provider, has completed the first round of their Series B fundraising of a total of ￥700M ($6.16M USD) through a third-party allotment of shares with Space Frontier Fund (SPARX Innovation for Future Co., Ltd.), Mitsubishi Corporation, ITOCHU Corporation, Next New Business and Technologies I Limited Partnership (tb innovations Ltd.), and Mizuho Growth Fund No.4 Limited Partnership (Mizuho Capital Co., Ltd.). With this financing, we [Infostellar] will accelerate the global expansion of our business by forming capital tie-ups with business companies that have global business networks.

As a result, the total amount of funds raised to date is ￥1.94B ($17.09M USD). Infostellar is continuing discussions with existing and new investors, and the final round will close later in 2021.

Daiwa Energy & Infrastructure Co. Ltd., Mitsubishi UFJ Capital VII, Limited Partnership (Mitsubishi UFJ Capital Co., Ltd.), and Mitsubishi HC Capital Inc. are the underwriters of corporate bonds with stock acquisition rights issued in March 2020. However, together with this financing round,  they became a new shareholder of the company.

Since raising funds in March 2020, Infostellar has been working on improving the functions of the GSaaS platform StellarStation for commercial use for satellite communications. In January 2021, Infostellar succeeded in demonstration experiments with satellites in orbit, and since March 2021 Infostellar has been providing downlink services for commercial satellites to European Government agencies. In June 2021, Infostellar announced a partnership with AWS Ground Station through which AWS ground stations will be made available to satellite operators through the StellarStation platform.

Based on the funds raised at this time, Infostellar will be able to increase the amount of ground stations that can be provided through the StellarStation platform, enter the US market and grow the number of customers. Infostellar plans to expand its team to strengthen their operational systems and address new market opportunities.

Investor Comments

Shinichiro Kengaku, President, CEO of SPARX Innovation for Future Co., Ltd.

“I believe that the 2020s will be the decade in which utilizing satellite data will help solve various social issues across the globe. With this goal in mind, I expect Infostellar will deliver unprecedented flexibility and scalability to meet the challenges many satellite operators face in securing satellite communications with ground stations. I hope that Infostellar will explore the very frontiers of the new Japanese space industry.”

Mitsumasa Icho, Executive Vice President, Group CEO, Urban Development Group, Mitsubishi Corporation

“With the progress of data utilization and related services in space and on the ground by utilizing small low-orbit satellites, the highly flexible and expandable ground station network provided by Infostellar is indispensable for building digital infrastructures that connect outer space and ground. We will work on projects in Japan and overseas, such as data center projects and large-scale urban development projects in ASEAN installing green power sources, increasing energy efficiency by utilizing AI, and improving urban connectivity by connecting to ground station networks.”

Tatsushi Shingu, President, ICT & Financial Business Company, ITOCHU Corporation

“We expect that the demand for ground stations will increase significantly as the LEO satellite market expands and that Infostellar will play a key role in the space industry. Infostellar, with unique technological capabilities and business model, has a simple seamless platform that connects ground stations and satellites worldwide. ITOCHU will support expanding GSaaS business together with Infostellar by utilizing our longstanding knowledge and our global network in the space business.”

Hyunmin Go, President of tb innovations Ltd.

“Infostellar aims to provide significant value to  customers around the world by developing the ground station platform service with a unique and competitive business model in the fast-growing satellite industry to make the space more valuable to human society. tb Innovations under Tokyo Boeki Group having strong belief in the vision Infostellar provided would like to contribute to further development of the space industry and build more robust business relationships & close collaboration with infostellar through this investment.”

Yusuke Omachi, President of Mizuho Capital Co., Ltd.

“The cloud-based ground station platform StellarStation developed by Infostellar, Inc. is an epoch-making solution that greatly reduces complexity of communication access between artificial satellites and ground stations and solves the issues that artificial satellite operators have.

We [Mizuho Capital] made an investment at this time because we are convinced that StellarStation will be a service that strongly supports the future development of the space business.Mizuho Capital will contribute to the further development of the space business together with the Infostellar Inc., including president Kurahara and other company members.“