Photo: Kinéis

Kinéis, a French IoT connectivity provider, has raised 100 million euro, reaching its capital target. Collecte Localisation Satellites (CLS), French National Centre for Space Studies (CNES), Bpifrance via the fund for Industrial Project Companies (SPI), financed by the “Investments for the Future” program and the European Investment Bank (EIB), Ifremer, Thales, Celad, BNP Paribas Développement, Hemeria, and other industrial and financial partners are investing in Kinéis’ goal to provide universal satellite connectivity.

The company also announced that it has appointed Alexandre Tisserant as president. “With the funds needed to launch our constellation, we are now free to focus entirely on satellite manufacturing and commercial deployment,” Tisserant said. “The capital that has now been raised will finance the construction of the constellation of 25 nanosatellites, 20 ground stations, the IT infrastructure for controlling the constellation, data processing and distribution, the development of new products, the launch of the satellites and the international expansion of Kinéis.”

Kinéis, a subsidiary of CLS, has a constellation of Argos operational payloads on seven satellites and a prototype nanosatellite, ANGELS, which was placed in orbit on in December 2019. The company plans to add 25 nanosatellites to its constellation, scheduled for launch in 2022. Kinéis has commercial partnerships with Bouygues Telecom, Suez, the Wize Alliance and Arribada. Kinéis calls itself the first fully financed nanosatellite constellation dedicated to IoT.