French satellite startup Skynopy, a ground station services provider for low Earth orbit (LEO) stations, announced it has completed a new €15 million funding round.
According to the company, this investment will support Skynopy’s ambition to deploy a global network of high-throughput ground stations to enable real-time satellite data downlink services, particularly for Earth observation constellations.
The startup will focus on three main spectrum ranges:
- S band (2 GHz to 4 GHz)
- X band (8 GHz to 12 GHz)
- Ka band (26.5 GHz to 40 GHz)
This funding will also allow Skynopy to accelerate its commercial deployment, strengthen its technical and marketing teams, and secure the necessary resources to deploy its plans for a space network by 2028.
“This fundraising marks a turning point. […] We will now deploy a large-scale network capable of meeting the growing needs of satellite operators, ensuring both performance and ease of use,” said Pierre Bertrand, co-founder and CEO of Skynopy, in a press release.
Founded at the end of 2023, the company offers turnkey, high-speed ground antennas for satellites. The €15 million funding round was completed in less than a month and led by Alven, alongside Expansion, Omnes and CNES via the SpaceFounders program. Heartcore, a pan-European fund who had already invested in Skynopy, also participated.
According to Skynopy, it can deliver a service that reduces revisit time to under 20 minutes and doubles the data download volume per satellite pass. For operators generating smaller data volumes, the startup pledges to halve their data download costs.
“By integrating the best existing infrastructure and focusing on practical, user-oriented value, Skynopy has built a service that is already being adopted by strategic clients,” added François Meteyer, Partner at Alven. “We are confident they have what it takes to become the next global leader in the satellite ground segment.”
