Infostellar, a Japanese satellite Ground-Segment-as-a-Service (GSaaS) provider, having just completed a highly successful Series B raise of ¥1.2B ($10.36M USD), is rapidly expanding its global reach for GSaaS and dedicated antenna operations.

The company hereby announces that we have expanded our client and partner reach to the United States and that we have also expanded our services from Japan.

United States (US) Operations

In order to address an increasing number of business opportunities in the United States, the company is pleased to announce that Infostellar U.S. Inc. was opened for business on January 3, 2022. This new subsidiary of Infostellar will be headed by former Universal Space Network and Swedish Space Corporation executive, Tom Pirrone, Infostellar’s current Cheif Strategy Officer.

“We are all very pleased that Tom has agreed to lead our US operation as its founding chief executive”, said Naomi Kurahara, Infostellar CEO. Kurahara added, “Tom has been with Infostellar since September of 2020 as our CSO. His experience and skills in developing the GSaaS industry ensures that our US and Global operations will enable Infostellar to become a market-leader”. The objective of the Infostellar U.S. corporation is to build on the company’s global ecosystem to include government and commercial clients and partners in North America.

Tom Pirrone said, “I’ve been asked many times why I chose to join Infostellar at this stage of life and career. Actually, this decision was quite easy for me. Naomi Kurahara is a visionary who has cast a view of the future of global space communications that is compelling and exciting. She and our team in Tokyo have also demonstrated the ability to attract a world class investor team that is encouraging us to dream big and be bold. So, that’s what we are going to do. I’m looking forward to another exciting ride in the space industry as we execute our growth plans for our US and global operations.”

Expansion of Hosting Services in Japan

In addition to providing GSaaS services from our shared network of satellite ground stations, the company also announces that it is now providing dedicated ground station services from its new location. These services complement the company's shared Ground Stations as a Service by providing dedicated antennas for space missions. Taiki, a northern Japanese city in the Hokkaido prefecture, is well known for its northern location that makes it especially suitable for spacecraft communications also is a center for rocket and stratospheric balloon operations for the Japanese space agency, JAXA.

Kurahara commented, “We have a long-standing relationship with Taiki and have now established our first Japanese location in a city that truly understands the importance of earth-based services for space communications, navigation and travel”. Hosting and dedicated antenna services will commence operations at Infostellar Taiki by mid-2022. “Once springtime weather arrives, we will be very busy with construction of Taiki”. The company also has plans to open similar hosting and dedicated antenna services in Okinawa and multiple Tokyo-area locations in the near future to support its growing customer base.

About Infostellar
Infostellar is a satellite 'Ground Segment as a Service' (GSaaS) provider. Infostellar provides flexible and scalable ground station services enabled by our cloud platform, 'StellarStation', which virtualizes ground station networks. Infostellar also provides support for ground segment operations necessary for satellite operations, such as radio license acquisition and frequency coordination operations. By lowering the barriers to entry in the ground segment, Infostellar empowers new space businesses to build better missions and improve the quality of their service.
Founded in 2016, Infostellar is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan and has its European office in the UK. For more information, visit https://www.infostellar.net

About StellarStation
StellarStation is a flexible, scalable, satellite ground station sharing platform. After a one-time setup, satellite operators can access any ground station across our global network. StellarStation also enables ground station owners to monetize their unused capacity by making it available to satellite operators. https://www.stellarstation.com/

About Infostellar

Infostellar is a satellite 'Ground Segment as a Service' (GSaaS) provider. Infostellar provides flexible and scalable ground station services enabled by our cloud platform, 'StellarStation', which virtualizes ground station networks. Infostellar also provides support for the ground segment operations necessary for satellite operations, such as radio license acquisition and frequency coordination operations. By lowering the barriers to entry in the ground segment, Infostellar empowers new space businesses to build better missions and improve the quality of their service. Founded in 2016, Infostellar is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan and has offices in the U.K. and the U.S.

For more information, visit https://www.infostellar.net

About StellarStationStellarStation is a flexible, scalable, satellite ground station sharing platform. After a one-time setup, satellite operators can access any ground station across Infostellar’s global network. StellarStation also enables ground station owners to monetize their unused capacity by making it available to satellite operators. https://www.stellarstation.com/

Infostellar, a Japanese satellite Ground-Segment-as-a-Service (GSaaS) provider, has raised ¥500M ($4.32M USD) in the Final Close of its Series B financing round. This is in addition to ¥700M ($6.04M USD) raised in the First Close in October 2021, completing Infostellar’s Series B round of funding with a total new investment of ¥1.2B ($10.36M USD).
In addition to the increased investment from an existing shareholder, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital No. 7 Investment Limited Partnership (Mitsubishi UFJ Capital Co., Ltd.), the final close included new investors Pavilion Capital PTE. LTD. under Temasek Holdings;  a Singaporean governmental investment company, ICMG Co-Creation Fund No. 1 Investment Limited Partnership (ICMG Partners Co., Ltd.); and QB No.2 Investment Limited Partnership (QB Capital LLC, and NCB Venture Capital Co., Ltd.), raising a total of ¥500M ($4.32M USD).

As a result, the total amount of funds raised to date is ￥2.44B ($21.06M USD).

Infostellar's vision is "We connect Earth and Space to empower the future" and our mission is "Be the most effective enabler of space business by providing the best access to satellite services" to achieve this vision.
In order to provide total ground segment services to all satellite operators for the growth of their space business, Infostellar will focus on the following areas with the funds raised in the Series B round.

• Expansion of communication area
  Infostellar will continue to connect ground stations to our StellarStation “network of networks” cloud based platform in order to expand the coverage area. Including integrating with AWS Ground Station, with whom we partnered with in June 2021. Infostellar aims to have more than 20 ground stations available to our satellite operator clients  via StellarStation in the early part of 2022.

• Enhanced regulatory compliance and license acquisition support for satellite operators
  We have received a lot of requests from our Satellite operator clients to support their regulatory compliance and license acquisitions, which are required before a satellite can be launched. We aim to strengthen our team and systems to enhance the range of our services and capacity to support our clients.

• Launch of ground station hosting service in Japan
  We have been receiving needs to set up a ground station in Japan for communication in Japan. In order to meet this need, we will prepare a site in Japan and aim to launch a hosting service by the end of 2022.

• Business expansion to the U.S.
  We are receiving an increasing number of inquiries from overseas satellite operators about our ground station network. In order to strengthen our service offerings, especially in North America, we will launch a U.S. corporation by the end of 2022.

• Strengthen human resource recruitment and organizational capabilities
  In order to implement the above measures, we will accelerate the hiring of Business Development, Software Development and Operations teams and strengthen the organization. (recruitment site：https://infostellar.net/careers )

Investor Comments 

Choun Chee Kong, Head Japan Investments, Pavilion Capital 

“Infostellar has the potential to be a major player in the ground segment as a service market, providing essential infrastructure for the rapidly growing space business and has already developed business with many domestic and international satellite operators.

Pavilion Capital believes that Infostellar will continue to play a significant role in the industry and look forward to supporting the space business as a satellite communications infrastructure company. 

We are very much looking forward to working with the team for many years to come as we work together to make the space business a big success.”

Gen Funahashi, CEO of ICMG Partners Co., Ltd.

“Infostellar is a futuristic platform that seamlessly connects the earth and space. Infostellar’s ground station platform “StellarStation” enables all ground stations in the world to be connected through a single platform which makes cloud-based ground station sharing possible. Additionally, the platform enhances the efficiency of satellite data transmission to the ground. At ICMG, we believe the world will need to obtain more satellite data to solve various social issues on the earth. ICMG will provide full support to Infostellar as it takes on this challenge of great social significance.”

Tsuyoshi Sakamoto, Managing Partner, QB Capital, LLC

“Infostellar's ground station platform "Stellar Station" is considered to be a service that can be an important infrastructure for space business, which facilitates communication between artificial satellites and ground stations. We are confident that Infostellar will be fluttering around the world, just as President Kurahara was from Kyushu. We will contribute to the development of the space business originating in Japan through investment in Infostellar.”

Takayuki Shimizu, Executive Officer & General Manager, Investment Dept. No. 3, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital Co., Ltd.

“As Infostellar is a unique provider that globally offers not only a satellite ground station sharing platform but various support for ground segment operations, we believe that they will be a general liaison of satellite operators with ground station owners as their gateway. While we have observed their certain business progress such as alliances with strong partners and enhancement of their management system, we made an additional investment at this time and will continuously contribute to the further development of their business utilizing strengths of MUFG as a member of it.”

About Infostellar

Infostellar is a satellite 'Ground Segment as a Service' (GSaaS) provider. Infostellar provides flexible and scalable ground station services enabled by our cloud platform, 'StellarStation', which virtualizes ground station networks. Infostellar also provides support for ground segment operations necessary for satellite operations, such as radio license acquisition and frequency coordination operations. By lowering the barriers to entry in the ground segment, Infostellar empowers new space businesses to build better missions and improve the quality of their service. Founded in 2016, Infostellar is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan and has its European office in the UK. For more information, visit https://www.infostellar.net

About StellarStationStellarStation is a flexible, scalable, satellite ground station sharing platform. After a one-time setup, satellite operators can access any ground station across our global network. StellarStation also enables ground station owners to monetize their unused capacity by sharing it with satellite operators. https://www.stellarstation.com/

Infostellar Inc., the Tokyo-based Ground Station as a Service (GSaaS) provider, today announced it is collaborating with Amazon Web Services (AWS), an Amazon.com company, to make AWS Ground Station available within StellarStation.

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St Johns, Newfoundland, Canada, and Tokyo, Japan: 

C-CORE and Infostellar announced today the customer commissioning of operational data reception services from C-CORE’s Happy Valley-Goose Bay Ground Station in Canada as an integral part of the Infostellar global network.

“We are pleased to announce the successful delivery of commercial downlinks of X-band SAR data for our major European customer’s satellite constellation”,

said Infostellar CTO Steve Montgomery. 

“C-CORE’s Happy Valley Goose Bay ground station is located in a unique location for capturing and delivering remote sensing images at the right time.  When coupled with our cloud-based StellarStation platform, the ground station provides exceptional coverage and automated services to meet real time data acquisition needs.”

The cooperation between Infostellar and C-CORE is focused on meeting the growing global demand for remote sensing information that is used daily to inform priorities such as business intelligence, environmental stewardship, and safety and security.  The companies are targeting the emerging generation of smallsat missions that are agile, cost-effective and have shorter timelines to launch than traditional satellites, while also supporting legacy SAR systems that have flown for years.

The team’s Canadian service will soon be expanded to provide additional satellite coverage from C-CORE’s Arctic ground station at Inuvik in Canada’s Northwest Territories, in support of Infostellar’s growing network of partner ground stations around the world to provide exceptional coverage for remote sensing applications.

“This milestone is a credit to the team at C-CORE that completed the development and commissioning of this ground station during an exceptionally challenging year, and to Infostellar for their ability to see its market potential and capitalize on it’,

said C-CORE’s Paul Adlakha, Managing Director of its LOOKNorth centre.

“We are very pleased with the results and look forward to supporting Infostellar’s customers with our Canadian operations.”

About Infostellar

Infostellar is a satellite 'Ground Segment as a Service' (GSaaS) provider. We provide flexible and scalable ground station services enabled by our cloud platform, 'StellarStation', which virtualizes ground station networks. By lowering the barriers to entry in the ground segment, Infostellar empowers new space businesses to build better missions and improve the quality of their service. Founded in 2016, Infostellar is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan and has its European office in the UK.

For more information, visit https://www.infostellar.net

Logos and images can be found at https://infostellar.net/media-kit

About StellarStation

StellarStation is a flexible, scalable, satellite ground station sharing platform. After a one-time setup, satellite operators can access any ground station across our global network. StellarStation also enables ground station owners to monetize their unused capacity by sharing it with satellite operators.

https://www.stellarstation.com/

About C-CORE

C-CORE is an innovative Canadian corporation that develops technology solutions for complex challenges in the remote sensing, oceans, and energy sectors. The effort also includes the collaboration of LOOKNorth, a C-CORE Centre of Excellence for Commercialization and Research, dedicated to national remote sensing innovations that supports Canada’s North and small to medium enterprises in the remote sensing sector.

Contact Information:

Melissa Molseed, Communications + PR, pr@istellar.com 
Jillian Cooper, Marketing, communications@c-core.ca

Infostellar and Arctic Space Technologies announced today the ambition to establish and host an Infostellar 7.3 m antenna system at the Arctic Space ground station in Piteå, Sweden.

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Infostellar announced today that it has achieved a critical customer milestone by downlinking X-Band SAR data in Canada and transferring that data in real time to a secure European payload processing center in Germany.

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Ground Station as a Service industry veteran Steve Montgomery added to executive staff

TOKYO Japan and Philadelphia (USA) - Infostellar, the Ground-Segment-as-a-Services (GSaaS) company, is pleased to announce the arrival of Steve Montgomery as the company’s Chief Technical Officer (CTO).

In this role, Steve will lead the company’s efforts in building and operating Infostellar’s global network of ground stations, including partner and company-owned assets. Steve will also leverage StellarStation by driving the technical development and expansion of the company’s ground segment products and services.

"We are thrilled to have Steve join our team.  Not only does he bring a wealth of technical expertise in building and operating global space assets, he also brings his experience in developing a startup GSaaS company into an industry leader.”

says Infostellar Founder and CEO, Naomi Kurahara. Kurahara added,

“Steve will be a key factor in driving our products and services in the future, thus enabling Infostellar to provide mission critical ground operations to our growing client base.”

Steve has over 27-years of experience building and operating ground stations all over the world.  He was a leader in the Universal Space Network team that was acquired by the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) in 2009 and remained with the company until joining Infostellar.  

Most recently, Steve held the position of Chief Establishment Director at SSC, where he was directly responsible for the installation and operation of a global network of ground stations in support of a wide variety of international space programs.  While at SSC, Steve also held the position of Managing Director of SSC Space Australia Pty Ltd, where he was responsible for SSC’s ground station operations in that region. Additionally, Steve led SSC’s efforts in building a world-class Launch and Early Orbit Operation (LEOP) and On-Orbit communications capability that to this day provides mission critical services to the world’s leading space agencies and companies.

Montgomery said:

"I am very pleased to be joining Naomi and the Infostellar team. This company is embarking on a journey that expands ground segment services while reducing capital and operational expenses by fully benefiting from cloud infrastructure. Together we have a unique opportunity to be an enabler of new space applications. ”

About Infostellar

Infostellar is a satellite 'Ground Segment as a Service' (GSaaS) provider. We provide flexible and scalable ground station services enabled by our cloud platform, 'StellarStation', which virtualizes ground station networks. By lowering the barriers to entry in the ground segment, Infostellar empowers newspace businesses to build better missions and improve the quality of their service. Founded in 2016, Infostellar is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan and has its European office in the UK.

For more information, visit https://www.infostellar.net/
Logos and images can be found at https://infostellar.net/media-kit

About StellarStation

StellarStation is a flexible, scalable, satellite ground station sharing platform. After a one-time setup, satellite operators can access any ground station across our global network. StellarStation also enables ground station owners to monetise their unused capacity by sharing it with satellite operators.

https://www.stellarstation.com/

Viasat Inc, a global communications company, and Infostellar Inc., a Japanese Ground Segment as a Service (GSaaS) start-up, today announced it signed a Real-Time Earth (RTE) agreement.

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Former Universal Space Network (USN) and World View Executive Tom Pirrone joins Infostellar

TOKYO Japan and Philadelphia (USA) - Infostellar, the Ground-Segment-as-a-Services (GSaaS) provider, is pleased to announce that Tom Pirrone has joined the company as its Chief Strategy Officer. 

"With a deep understanding of the global GSaaS marketplace and a keen eye for innovative and disruptive technologies, Tom is an exceptionally good fit for our company.”

says Infostellar Founder and CEO, Naomi Kurahara. Kurahara added,

“He also  brings a wealth of space industry knowledge and strategic business development experience which is crucial to Infostellar at this juncture in our development.”

With more than 38 years of experience in the space industry, Tom has held previous executive roles at several space startups. Most notably, he was a member of the founding management team of Universal Space Network (USN), the world’s first commercial GSaaS company founded in 1996 by Apollo XII commander Pete Conrad. He was an instrumental part of the management team that took the company from an industry startup through profitability and on to a successful acquisition by the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) in 2009. Tom remained with SSC in various executive roles until 2016. 

Most recently, Tom Pirrone held the position of SVP Business Development for World View Enterprises, the Stratospheric flight services company based in Tucson, Arizona.

Pirrone said:

"I am honoured to join the Infostellar team as its CSO. Naomi Kurahara is a visionary leader and is unique in our industry as a pioneering founder and CEO. I’m looking forward to leveraging my skills and experience along with the company’s innovative approach to GSaaS to help drive the company to profitability.”  

About Infostellar

Infostellar is a satellite 'Ground Segment as a Service' (GSaaS) provider. We provide flexible and scalable ground station services enabled by our cloud platform, 'StellarStation', which virtualizes ground station networks. By lowering the barriers to entry in the ground segment, Infostellar empowers newspace businesses to build better missions and improve the quality of their service. Founded in 2016, Infostellar is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan and has its European office in the UK.

For more information, visit https://www.infostellar.net/
Logos and images can be found at https://infostellar.net/media-kit

About StellarStation

StellarStation is a flexible, scalable, satellite ground station sharing platform. After a one-time setup, satellite operators can access any ground station across our global network. StellarStation also enables ground station owners to monetise their unused capacity by sharing it with satellite operators.

https://www.stellarstation.com/