LeoSat wants to place between 78-108 satellites into Low Earth orbit at 1400 kms and use laser beams to move huge quantities of data extremely quickly around the globe.

It has secured initial modest investment from Hispasat and Japan’s Sky Perfect/JSAT. It says it has booked $2 billion of advance orders.  However, it reportedly is struggling to close its $50 million of Series A financing.

Worse, perhaps, is that under International Telecommunications Union rules it is obliged to launch at least one satellite by a January 2021 deadline.

LeoSat is working with Thales Alenia Space (which actually holds the regulatory filing for LeoSat’s allocated frequencies) to build the satellites. Mark Rigolle, CEO at LeoSat, talking to specialist news-site Space Intel Report (SIR), says the would-be operator has trimmed its initial CapEx from $3.6 billion to just over $3 billion.

Rigolle told SIR that he was still in discussion with potential investors.

Categories: Articles, Business, Funding