Barcelona-based startup Sateliot has taken €13.8 million of funding from the Spanish government to swell its ongoing Series B funds to €58.8 million. The firm, building a non-terrestrial network (NTN) of low-Earth orbit (LEO) nanosatellites to provide NB-IoT connectivity to the planet’s wilderness zones, on land and sea, wants to raise €70 million with the round to launch a total of 100 satellites by 2028. It put four on a SpaceX shuttle last August, bringing its total to six; it has a stated target to achieve revenues of €1 billion by 2030, and claims existing supply contracts worth €270 million.
These are with “over 400 customers across 50 countries”, it said; the €270 million figure is for recurring annual value, it claims. Sateliot has said previously it has orders already to connect eight million IoT devices, and is actively working on deals to connect “hundreds of thousands” of devices in countries like Brazil and the USA. It plans to start commercial services this year (2025). It signed a deal with UK-based cellular IoT MVNO Eseye in December to connect customers where its terrestrial roaming networks do not reach.
The new funds, proposed by the Spanish Society for Technological Transformation (SETT) and approved by the Spanish Council of Ministers, follow on the heels of a €10 million Series B contribution from Global Portfolio Investments and a €5.2 million convertible note, exchangeable for equity when the business scales, from unnamed parties. Sateliot has also secured a €30 million debt injection from the European Investment Bank (EIB), marking the EIB’s first venture debt operation in the space sector.
Indra, Cellnex, and Sepides have invested previously – as “hard-core shareholders”. The company’s master plan is for a satellite network based on Release 17 specifications in the 5G standard, which will support LTE-era narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) comms on terrestrial 5G devices via LEO radio infrastructure. Spanish and European sponsorships are geared to boost regional tech sovereignty. Sateliot wants to wholesale the service as a roaming extension for terrestrial operators – targeting the defense, security, logistics, and “critical infrastructure management” sectors.
It stated: “The company continues to attract key national and international backers who are confident in its technological capabilities and unique position in Europe, reinforcing the strength of its founders’ strategy to promote a ‘country project’ on the global stage… This support further strengthens Sateliot’s role in developing sovereign telecommunications infrastructure when both NATO and the EU call for increased defense spending and enhanced space capabilities.”
It has a virtualized 5G core courtesy of a deal with AWS in late 2022.
Jaume Sanpera, co-founder and chief executive at Sateliot, said: “The confidence shown by SETT and other institutional investors confirms that Sateliot is Europe’s answer to the growing need for secure, accessible, and autonomous satellite connectivity – essential for critical applications in civil, security, and defense sectors.”
