By Gianluca Lo Nostro
April 23 (Reuters) – Univity, a satellite internet startup backed by the French state, said on Thursday it had closed a 27 million euro ($32 million) funding round, as it plans to launch thousands of satellites that could make it Europe’s biggest satellite operator.
Combined with a 31 million euro contract from the French space agency, the Series A round brings total secured funding to 68 million euros, Univity’s CEO Charles Delfieux said. French state-owned investment bank Bpifrance is among the investors, alongside investment platform Blast and venture capital fund Expansion.
France is leading Europe’s efforts to reduce reliance on U.S. satellite internet services.
Unlike Elon Musk’s Starlink or Amazon, which sell connectivity directly to consumers, Univity targets telecoms operators, aiming to share infrastructure and sell space-based internet and mobile services to them. It has signed 16 agreements with operators across four continents, Delfieux told Reuters.
Founded in 2022, Univity plans to build a fleet of up to 3,400 satellites in very low Earth orbit (VLEO) — roughly 375 km (233 miles) above Earth — which would make it Europe’s largest satellite operator. Starlink has around 10,000 satellites in orbit, while Amazon Leo plans to launch roughly 7,000.
Telecoms operators worldwide have been signing deals with satellite service providers to add space-based mobile and fixed connectivity, seeking to close coverage gaps in remote areas where upgrading terrestrial networks would be more expensive.
“In this new era of satellite communication pushed by Starlink and Amazon, mass production and recurrent prices have become the battle(field),” said Delfieux, who left a job at the World Bank to start Univity.
“One way to provide highly competitive services to our clients is to internalize production.”
The company will build satellites near Toulouse to tighten costs. Current funding will allow Univity to launch its first two satellites before moving to an infrastructure financing model for large-scale deployment from 2028, involving “deep-pocketed investors” such as infrastructure funds and telecoms operators.
($1 = 0.8512 euros)
(Reporting by Gianluca Lo Nostro; Editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak)
