- The startup leverages multiple satellite operators without owning satellites directly
- Skylo is currently active in 35 countries across five continents, with recent expansion into Brazil, New Zealand and Australia
- The company faces stiff competition including Apple and Starlink
Satellite startup Skylo scooped an additional $30 million funding to pursue its dreams of providing global satellite connectivity for smartphones, vehicles and IoT devices.
Skylo started as an Internet of Things (IoT)-focused satellite startup, supporting applications such as cattle tracking. Skylo still offers narrowband IoT services but is broadening its ambitions and moving into D2D.
The company uses satellites from Echostar, Ligado Networks, TerreStar and Echostar, operating on L-band and S-band spectrum. “Skylo’s business model is to aggregate satellite capacity — they don’t own the birds," Avi Greengart, analyst at Techsponential, told Fierce in an email. Skylo manages traffic and bills carriers.
“It’s global and because the satellites are 35,000 km away, coverage zones are large, and carriers don't need to dedicate their own licensed spectrum to it, but can provide better coverage wherever their network is patchy,” Greengart said.
Skylo is operating in 35 countries and five continents, CEO Parth Trivedi said on a call to Fierce. "We are [going to be] multi-orbit," he added, noting that the company is working with partners to bring low earth orbit (LEO) satellites into the mix.
The company has just added Brazil, New Zealand and Australia to the countries covered.
“Skylo’s value proposition makes sense in isolation, but the competition is fierce,” Greengart said. “Apple already provides emergency services on Globalstar to iPhone users; this covers that need for much of the premium segment of the market. Skylo is data-constrained, so it can do SMS today and might be able to do broader messaging going forward, but it can’t match Starlink, which has more capacity and keeps launching new satellites, or AST SpaceMobile, which is aiming for full broadband to device thanks to absolutely enormous satellites it designs and builds in-house,” the analyst concluded.