HawkEye 360 Inc. has secured $70 million in Series B financing — this financing capitalizes the company’s business plan to include buildout and launch of the HawkEye 360 commercial satellite constellation and development of the company’s line of RF analytic products by 2021.
Round participants include new investors Airbus and Esri, existing investors Razor’s Edge Ventures, Allied Minds, and Shield Capital Partners as well as additional undisclosed parties.
With this Series B financing, HawkEye 360 will focus on scaling its business to provide the fastest and most relevant RF analytics in the market to support rapidly growing customer demand. Today, HawkEye 360 is delivering products to customers using its first cluster of three formation flying satellites and fabricating a second satellite cluster for launch in early 2020. This financing supports the development and launch of four additional clusters, forming a fully operational constellation of 18 highly capable satellites with rapid global revisit.
Since being founded in 2015, HawkEye 360 has now raised over $100 million in funding. HawkEye 360 launched its first satellite cluster in December 2018 and brought its first product, RFGeo, to market in April of this year. RFGeo identifies and locates the position of a broad range of RF emitters, such as X-band navigation radars, VHF push-to-talk radios, satellite terminals, and emergency beacons. The company’s pioneering geospatial data layer reveals patterns of activity and provides valuable insights for maritime, defense/intelligence, telecommunications, and crisis response applications.
PJT Partners LP served as exclusive financial advisor and placement agent to HawkEye 360 in connection with the Series B capital raise.​ Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP acted as legal counsel for the company in connection with the transaction.
John Serafini, CEO, HawkEye 360, said receiving an investment of this size, especially for a pioneering space start-up, reaffirms the value investors place on the advanced capabilities of the company's satellites and the highly innovative RF data analytic products the firm is delivering to customers. This financing capitalizes the development of the firm's full constellation as well as provides exceptional access to European markets through the new investor and distribution partner, Airbus. The company is honored to have such a phenomenal group of investors supporting HawkEye 360's work, the team, and the firm's vision for the future of space-based RF analytics.
Mark Spoto, Chairman of HawkEye 360’s Board of Directors and Managing Director at Razor’s Edge, said the capital markets are now determining the leaders of the emerging commercial space marketplace. This funding demonstrates the strength of HawkEye 360’s team, business plan, and ability to execute on commitments. This company’s exceptional leadership and hardworking team of innovators have accomplished a series of major milestones. The Board and investor syndicate look forward to further successes as HawkEye 360 continues to expand services both in the U.S. marketplace and internationally.
Evert Dudok, Head of Communications, Intelligence and Security & Member of the Executive Committee at Airbus Defence and Space, added that the company is joining the funding of HawkEye 360 at an important time in their growth. Analytics from space is a game-changer for the industry and HawkEye 360’s satellite data are highly complementary to Airbus’ global portfolio of optical and synthetic aperture radar satellites. Therefore, Airbus believes this investment will support acceleration of their plans and will be of mutual business benefit to the companies in the future.
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