SES, Boeing invest in Isotropic
February 9, 2021
UK-based Isotropic Systems designs and manufacturers antennas for high-throughput satellites including low Earth orbiting satellite constellations. It has just raised a further $40 million (€33m) in funding from a series of investors including SES and Boeing.
What’s key, however, is that Isotropic’s equipment can handle signals from a variety of satellites. It is also suitable for use on aircraft, maritime and military applications and says that its creation is the world’s first low-profile, electronically steerable antenna. The device has no moving parts.
It raised $14 million in its Series A cash-raising exercise in January 2019, when Boeing’s Horizon X Ventures stumped up some of the cash.
This latest round of funding is led by SES with other strategic investors coming from Orbital Ventures, the UK’s government-backed Future Fund, Space Angels and Firmament Ventures as well as Boeing.
John Finney, Isotropic Systems Founder/CEO, said: “As we grow our UK-based team, collaborative partnerships and capabilities, we are proud to support tech innovation in the UK to solve connectivity challenges across a broad range of key vertical and geographical markets around the world.”
SES CEO Steve Collar added: “Isotropic’s multi-beam antenna plays an important role in our multi-orbit strategy and is a key enabler for advanced satellite services on land, in the air and at sea. Our investment reflects the potential that we believe this breakthrough technology has for SES and for the industry as a whole.”
Founded by John Finney in 2013, Isotropic Systems deploys patented radio frequency optics technology. This lets the high-performance multi-beam antenna to simultaneously link with multiple satellites in multiple orbits sans compromise in the performance of each link. It unlocks the global satellite ecosystem for unprecedented connectivity across a broad range of sectors including government, defense, maritime, enterprise, and aerospace.
The fresh cash will enable Isotropic to accelerate production and support the new satellite constellations now emerging. The company has a 20,000 sq ft facility near Reading, UK and add about 150 new engineers over the next two years.