News & Media, page-2088

How come OneWeb can raise billions from investors and SAS struggles to raise $15m? You'd think that nano-sats being the latest fad, that financiers would be willing to throw $40-$50m at SAS when others can raise billions.

https://spacenews.com/oneweb-raises-1-25-billion-from-returning-investors/

The new round, announced March 18, brings OneWeb's total capital raised to 3.4 billion. Credit: OneWeb SatellitesWASHINGTON — Less than a month after the launch of its first six satellites, OneWeb closed a new $1.25 billion financing round to further its internet constellation.Japanese tech giant SoftBank — OneWeb’s largest investor — led the round, as did returning investors Grupo Salinas, Qualcomm Technologies, and the government of Rwanda.The new financing bring OneWeb’s total funding to $3.4 billion, following a $500 million round in 2015, a $1.2 billion round in 2016 and undisclosed fundraising of around $450 million last year.In a statement accompanying the March 18 announcement, OneWeb CEO Adrian Steckel said the new money “makes OneWeb’s service inevitable” as the heavily capitalized startup prepares for the large-scale production and launch of a first-generation constellation of 648 satellites.Steckel said in a February interview that OneWeb had moved away from earlier plans to finance the remainder of its system using debt.