Skylo Technologies has secured $37 million in funding co-led by Intel Capital and Innovation Endeavors. New investors include BMW i Ventures, Next47, Samsung Catalyst Fund, and Seraphim Space. David Johnson of Intel Capital joins the board, bringing a wealth of experience and insight to fortify Skylo’s leadership team.
This new investment expands Skylo’s scale and business operations to better support smartphones, wearables, IoT devices, and mobile network operator customers. This is a major step in Skylo’s commitment to making standards based non-terrestrial networks (NTN) more accessible and efficient for numerous sectors, including consumer, automotive, agriculture, energy, transportation, and beyond.
“We’re immensely proud to lead this new chapter in direct-to-device satellite connectivity, supported by an incredible consortium of investors. Their commitment helps make Skylo’s standards-based service the default choice for the NTN ecosystem,” said Parth Trivedi, CEO and Co-Founder of Skylo. “This round accelerates our carrier partnerships and supports all top device makers adopting our standards-based solution.”
With this new capital, Skylo will grow its team with the brightest minds in the industry, enhance its marketing efforts and technological developments to bring online new capabilities, reach new verticals, and further its global footprint.
“As lead investors, we recognize the transformative potential of Skylo’s scalable approach for 5G satellite-to-device communications,” said David Johnson, Managing Director at Intel Capital. “Since our first meeting with Parth and the team, we’ve been impressed with the extensive industry ecosystem support they’ve received in delivering a complete end-to-end connectivity service for high volume device categories at low cost.”
“We’re proud to announce our decision to back Skylo again — a breakthrough service that is opening new markets and opportunities by connecting remote and underserved areas,” said Scott Brady, Founding Partner at Innovation Endeavors. “We’re excited to be part of this journey and are confident that Skylo’s technology will play a crucial role in shaping the future of global communication and connectivity.”
Skylo has launched its initial service across US, Canada, and Europe, in partnership with major chipset makers including Qualcomm, Samsung, MediaTek, and Sony, together with the world’s leading device OEMs and mobile carriers, such as Deutsche Telekom. Skylo has successfully partnered with satellite operators to enable the service on dedicated, fully licensed spectrum and existing satellite assets. This allows terrestrial mobile carriers to take advantage of the most economical, scalable solution for direct-to-device connectivity, without sacrificing their own spectrum or changing their behavior in any way since Skylo’s network integrates as a standard roaming partner. Skylo has built a strong ecosystem of OEMs, carriers, and supply chain partners that have brought the service to market.
Skylo and Samsung S.LSI have an ongoing partnership to bring Skylo’s service to Samsung’s flagship 5G modems. Samsung Catalyst’s investment in Skylo strengthens ongoing development efforts for mutual customers.
“We were impressed with Skylo’s global connectivity solution that enables ‘always-on, always-connected’ communication for the automotive industry,” said Kasper Sage, Managing Partner at BMW iVentures. “Skylo has a proven solution and team that is going to make satellite connectivity a new standard for the next generation of vehicles while keeping people safe and making their experiences seamless wherever they may go.”
For carriers looking to expand network capabilities or professionals aspiring to contribute to a cutting-edge technology landscape, Skylo offers an opportunity to be part of a future where seamless, global connectivity is the norm. Reach out to learn how we can drive the future of connectivity together.
