Infostellar implements the sharing economy concept to satellite by acting as an online marketplace for satellite downtime

Japanese space tech startup Infostellar has raised a US$7.3 million in Series A funding round led by Airbus Ventures.

Weru Investment, D4V, and Sony Innovation Fund also participated in the funding round.

The startup’s existing investors 500 Startups Japan and FreakOut Holdings also give additional investment.

Following the investment, it also welcomed Dr Lewis Pinault, Managing Investment Partner for Airbus Ventures in Japan, to the company board.

In a press statement, Infostellar said that it will use the funding to fund the launch of its flagship platform StellarStation, expand its network of partner antennas, and hire additional team members.

Infostellar was founded in January 2016 by Naomi Kurahara, Kazuo Ishigame, and Toshio Totsuka. It implements the sharing economy concept to satellite by acting as an online marketplace for satellite downtime.

Also Read: Indonesian high schoolers team up with NASA to send rice, yeast to ISS

Currently in beta stage, StellarStation is a hardware unit that allows satelite operators to share their antenna through a cloud-based platform during otherwise idle time.

The startup claimed that this process will allow increased transmission at much lower cost, while also passing on revenue to antenna owners in the network.

The StellarStation will be launched in October 2017.

The Tokyo-based startup has raised US$550,000 seed funding round by FreakOut Holdings, 500 Startups Japan, and angel investor Kotaro Chiba in October 2016. It has also been awarded a US$474,000 grant in the 2016 Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Innovation Challenge Program, presented by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communication (MIC) of Japan.

Apart from Infostellar, another Japanese startup working in the space tech field is ALE. The space entertainment startup provides on-demand meteor rain service by launching micro-satellites packed with pellets. After being launched into space, the micor-satellite will release the pellets to cause atmospheric re-entry, causing a meteor-like effect.

ALE has recently raised a US$6 million funding in December 2016 and is set to launch its Sky Canvas Project in 2018.

—

Image Credit: Infostellar

The post Japanese space tech startup Infostellar raises US$7.3M in Series A led by Airbus Ventures appeared first on e27.