Photo: CesiumAstro

CesiumAstro closed a $12.4 million Series A funding round led by Airbus Ventures. Additional investors in the round include Kleiner Perkins, Franklin Templeton Venture Fund, Lavrock Ventures, Honeywell Ventures, and Analog Devices Ventures. Funds will be used to scale the team and expand the development of a wide range of frequency offerings and system configurations to meet the growing demand for affordable, high-throughput aerospace plug-and-play communications systems.

Built on a system of scalable and modular “LEGO-like” software defined architecture, Cesium products turn digital bits into steerable, shapeable radio frequency beams and provide complete communications systems in a plug and play kit. Cesium’s fully-integrated systems require only a single power cable and digital connection to make a high-speed communication link. Its communications system can be used for satellites, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), launch vehicles, and other aerospace platforms.

“Secure, reliable and high-throughput software-defined data links are the backbone of next-generation space and airborne systems,” said CesiumAstro Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Shey Sabripour. “This Series A round — together with the tremendous support of our new partners — accelerates the way we bring state-of-the-art technology to the core of next generation aerospace communications. Our patent-pending hardware and software system architecture for the first time brings full-stack functionality of agile-beam communications payloads, at an order of magnitude lower cost.”