Google-backed satellite provider O3b raises $1.2B to bring the world online

Google-backed Internet satellite company O3b Networks has raised $1.2 billion in what is says is its final funding round before it launches its “constellation” of fiber-quality satellites to bring the developing world online.

The Channel Island-based company’s name comes from “the other three billion,” referring to the number of people in the world who currently do not have regular Internet access.

The three-year-old startup has thus far been focused on building easy-to-use global satellite-based Internet technology for Internet service providers and telecom companies attempting to push into rapidly emerging markets.

It will theoretically be able to reach these markets when others couldn’t because O3b’s satellites will be placed in orbit 8,000 kilometers from the Earth, four times closer to the planet than regular geostationary satellites.

Google-backed satellite provider O3b raises $1.2B to bring the world online | VentureBeat