Two years after its Series A round, Lynk Global said Tuesday it raised an undisclosed amount from Virginia Venture Partners in its quest to enhance mobile service, including broadband, by seamlessly connecting cellular networks to its satellite network.
The Falls Church, Va.-based startup will receive the funds from the equity investment program of the Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation. Lynk’s previous investors include Alexandria, Va.-based Blazar Ventures; Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund and Starbridge Venture Capital, both of Washington, D.C.; and Palo Alto, Calif.-based Unshackled Ventures.
Lynk has previously raised about $25 million in venture funding and has contracts worth at least $150 million with mobile network operators, CEO Charles Miller told the Business Journal earlier this year.
“At a time when the mobile phone is one of the most important devices to billions of people worldwide, reliable connectivity is still not available to everyone,” said Tom Weithman, VIPC’s chief investment officer and managing director of VVP. “Lynk’s team of professionals in the aerospace and wireless service industry is dedicated to providing accessible cell coverage for all.”
‘Game changer,’ says Lynk CEO
Lynk plans to use the VVP investment to accelerate the company’s commercial service, planned to start later this year.
In 2020, Lynk successfully demonstrated its technology to send text messages from its “cell phone tower” in space to mobile phones on earth. Miller termed it a “game changer” for mobile communications. Lynk’s“crystallizing” idea has been credited to its co founder, Margo Deckard, who came up with it when working on the use of satellite terminals during the Ebola crisis in Africa.
Lynk uses small satellites and patented technology that can, in theory, provide broadband coverage across the earth. It has so far sent into space at least six such satellites, most recently in April. The company would need at least 1,500 such satellites to provide reliable broadband coverage.
Miller plans to connect Lynk’s satellite network to regular unmodified cellphones in use today. Lynk’s technology aims to achieve this via so-called “backward compatibility” with a global mobile standard called 3 GPP.
“Six years ago, most people thought it was impossible to use satellites to connect with existing mobile phones. Today it is proven technology. Lynk has connected thousands of standard mobile phones here on the east coast of the United States, including Virginia,” Miller said.
Miller, a serial entrepreneur with 30 years’ experience in the space industry, has advised NASA on public-private partnerships during a stint at the national space agency. He has also been associated with DARPA, the USAF, and other private commercial space firms. Miller’s previous startup, NanoRacks, has delivered more than 700 payloads to space.
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VVP, which was established in 2005, has invested $32.4 million across more than 250 portfolio companies, including 17 in designated Opportunity Zones.
VVP Funds has been ranked Virginia’s “Most Active Investor” for the past five years by CB Insights, a venture capital database. It has also been ranked among the top 50 venture capital firms nationwide, joining the ranks of California’s Andreessen Horowitz, New York’s Lerer Hippeau Ventures and Washington, D.C.’s New Enterprise Associates.
VVP’s investments are governed by the Virginia Venture Partners Investment Advisory Board (IAB), an independent panel consisting of entrepreneurs and investors from venture capital firms such as New Enterprise Associates, Grotech Ventures, Harbert Venture Partners HIG Ventures, Edison Ventures and In-Q-Tel.
