HELSINKI — Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology has raised 6.7 billion yuan ($943 million) for the construction of its G60 low Earth orbit megaconstellation.
SSST recently secured the series A funding according to Feb. 1 news reports, citing a major investor. The round was led by a fund set up by the National Manufacturing Transformation and Upgrading Fund (NMTUF), Reuters reported.
Other investors included Shanghai Alliance Investment, a venture capital arm of the Shanghai Municipal Government, CASSTAR, a venture investment and incubator firm ultimately under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Guosheng Capital, Hengxu Capital and CAS Capital, also under CAS.
The development comes as SSST prepares to begin construction of its 12,000-satellite strong “G60” constellation. An initial 108 satellites of a total of around 12,000 “G60 Starlink” satellites are to be launched across 2024.
SSST and CAS’s Innovation Academy for Microsatellites (IAMCAS) established Shanghai Gesi Aerospace Technology (Genesat) in 2022 to set up satellite manufacturing facilities.
The first flat-panel satellite rolled off the assembly line at the G60 digital satellite production factory in Shanghai’s Songjiang District in December 2023. Genesat recently raised funds through investment vehicles under both the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Shanghai government.
SSST is understood to be the Chinese side of the former Sino-German KLEO Connect constellation project. That Chinese-European joint venture ended in acrimony and ongoing lawsuits. Meanwhile U.S. technology firm Rivada is planning to use the frequencies previously allocated to KLEO Connect for its own constellation.
Documentation filed with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in April likely pertaining to the G60 Starlink project sets out plans for 36 polar orbital planes, each filled with 36 satellites, totaling 1,296 spacecraft. The satellites would operate in the Ku, Q and V…
Read the full article here