Spire, a US-based nanosatellite developer backed by cybersecurity company Qihoo 360 and diversified conglomerate Mitsui, has raised $40m in a series B round led by Promus Ventures.
Promus was joined by Bessemer Venture Partners, Jump Capital, RRE Ventures and Lemnos Labs. Spire will use the round to fund the mass production of its nanosatellites, which are filled with software-radio technology that can produce reams of data by listening instead of looking.
Spire raised $25m in a July 2014 series A round led by RRE that featured Qihoo 360, Mitsui’s Mitsui Global Investment unit and Moose Capital.
The company, which was incubated by Lemnos Labs and originally founded in 2012 as Nanosatisfi, has raised just over $80m in total funding and also counts Beamonte Investments, Emerge, Shasta Ventures and Grishin Robotics as backers.