Australian Myriota is Boeing’s first venture outside of America through Horizon X. Photo courtesy of ViaSat
Boeing has joined a $15 million funding round for Australian nanosatellite communications startup Myriota. The funding round is led by Australian firms Blue Sky Venture Capital and Main Sequence Ventures.
Myriota developed technology enabling two-way communications between ground-based micro-transmitters and low-Earth-orbit (LEO) nanosatellites to securely share data over narrow bandwidths. This direct-to-orbit platform enables applications across the logistics, defense, utilities, agricultural, environmental and maritime industries, where Internet-of-Things (IoT) connectivity via traditional means is extremely challenging and expensive.
“We formed Myriota to solve a major connectivity problem: hundreds of millions of devices that need to communicate but don’t have cost-effective, battery-friendly networks to do so,” said Myriota CEO Alex Grant. “The scale of this investment, with strong domestic venture capital leadership and strategic participation by global investors, is significant for Myriota, and our vision to deliver IoT connectivity for everyone, everywhere.”
Myriota is the first non-U.S. company that Boeing’s HorizonX investment subsidiary has supported and the 10th total since HorizonX was launched in April 2017.