Toronto-based Kepler Communications has raised USD 60M in Series B funding to help it scale up its on-orbit satellite communications network.

The funding will help Kepler in its ambition to provide Internet outside of Earth for the booming space economy. 

Mina Mitry, CEO and co-founder, said: “This new funding not only allows us to continue our revenue growth using existing satellites, but also enables us to introduce new services in support of our growing customer base. We are pleased to have Tribe Capital leading the round given the deep domain expertise they’ve built through investments like Relativity Space.”

In the last year Keppler completed its vertical integration by bringing satellite production in-house, and designed, built, and launched a dozen GEN 1 satellites. The company currently has 15 satellites in orbit and now aims to produce 10 satellites per month.

The funds raised will help Kepler introduce its next generation satellites as the company increase the size of its network.

Wen Cheng Chong, CTO and co-founder said: “Building the internet in space is the guiding mission at Kepler. Our next generation of satellites will expand our coverage beyond Earth providing internet connectivity people, devices, satellites and more in orbit. There is a growing need to get data generated in space back to earth, and this is a need Kepler is uniquely qualified to address. This is an exciting time for those of us at Kepler as we create an essential part of the infrastructure needed for humanity to look toward a future beyond Earth’s atmosphere.”

The funding will also be used to enhance the size and calibre of the team at Kepler Communications.  The current growth and expansion plan is to increase the team size to 150 by the end of 2021.

The fundraising round was led by Tribe Capital and includes participation from a host of new investors including Canaan Partners. Existing investors including IA Ventures, and Costanoa Ventures also participated signaling their strong conviction in the company’s progress and market opportunity. This brings the total funding raised to date by Kepler to over USD 90M.