US-based satellite services provider OneWeb secured $1.25bn in funding yesterday from investors including telecommunications firm SoftBank, diversified conglomerate Grupo Salinas and mobile semiconductor producer Qualcomm.
The corporates were joined by the government of Rwanda, and the round increased the total raised by the company to about $3.4bn since it was founded in 2012, it said.
OneWeb is building a network of low earth-orbit satellites that are intended to provide high-speed internet connectivity to rural areas and other underserved parts of the world.
The satellites are built through a partnership with another investor, aerospace manufacturer Airbus. The latest funding follows the recent launch of OneWeb’s first six satellites and it will be used to accelerate production and increase its launches to 30 per month by the end of 2019.
Marcelo Claure, SoftBank’s chief operating officer, said: “OneWeb has extended its first-mover advantage and is on track to become the world’s largest and first truly global communications network.
“At SoftBank, our aim is to invest in transformative companies at the leading edge of technology disruption. OneWeb’s potential is undeniable as the growth in data from 5G, [the internet of things], autonomous driving and other new technologies drives demand for capacity above and beyond the limits of the existing infrastructure.”
SoftBank had previously invested $500m in the company in late 2017, having provided $1bn of the $1.2bn it raised in a 2016 round also featuring Qualcomm, Airbus, satellite services firms Hughes Network Systems and Intelsat, conglomerates Virgin Group and Bharti Enterprises, beverage maker Coca-Cola and cable and internet service Totalplay.
Airbus, Virgin, Bharti Enterprises, Qualcomm, Coca-Cola, Intelsat, Hughes Network Systems, and Totalplay, a subsidiary of Grupo Salinas, had already supplied $500m in funding for OneWeb in 2015, following an initial investment by Virgin and Qualcomm earlier the same year.
Photo courtesy of OneWeb.
