Canada-based satellite telecommunications services provider Kepler Communications has secured $16m in a series A round backed by DB Digital Ventures, a mobility-focused investment arm of rail operator Deutsche Bahn.
The round was led by venture capital firm Costanoa Ventures and included fellow VC firm IA Ventures.
Founded in 2015, Kepler manufactures and launches compact satellites known as cubesats which are intended to improve data connectivity for customers working from Earth’s geographic poles in the Arctic and Antarctica, where data services are currently sparse.
The company’s first satellite, Kipp, is already operational and has the capacity to deliver data speeds of more than 40 megabits per second.
Kipp will be followed by a second cubesat called Case next month, and a third spacecraft named Tars designed for internet-of-things connectivity services is due to launch in the first half of 2019.
Kepler aims to complete a constellation of up to 15 additional nanosatellites, dubbed Gen1, by the end of 2020.
The company had previously raised $5m in a 2016 seed round led by IA Ventures that included Business Development Bank of Canada, Liquid 2 Ventures, Techstars Ventures, Globalive Capital, SK Ventures, Zelkova Ventures, Plug & Play Ventures and V1.vc. It took part in the Techstars Seattle accelerator the same year.