Internet company Tencent has contributed to a $15m series B round closed by US-based high-altitude balloon developer World View.
Canaan Partners led the round, which included fellow venture capital firms Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) and Moment Ventures, and VC fund Base Ventures.
World View produces high-altitude balloons it calls Stratollites which function in the stratosphere. They are capable of circumnavigating the earth and maintaining position over one place for months on end, allowing them to measure a range of data types.
The Stratollites can also be used to carry cellular device signals for mobile network service providers, gather weather data and to give people pleasure rides. The series B round will support the technology’s development and commercial adoption.
Deepak Kamra, general partner at Canaan Partners, and Vab Goel, general partner at NVP, will join World View’s board of directors along with Tom Ingersoll, formerly the chief executive of satellite technology provider Skybox Imaging.
World View previously closed $1.6m in debt financing in early 2014 and $7.2m in equity funding in November the same year, according to regulatory filings.
– Image courtesy of World View Enterprises, Inc.