TAMPA, Fla. — Greg Wyler’s megaconstellation startup E-Space said Dec. 5 it plans to buy radio frequency module developer CommAgility in a $14.5 million deal.
The acquisition gives E-Space 5G software and experience that “would have taken years to recreate,” Wyler said in a statement.
CommAgility, which employs 50 people and is currently part of publicly listed technology company Wireless Telecom Group, specializes in systems that manage signals for cellular, air-to-ground, and satellite networks.
E-Space said it plans to integrate CommAgility’s source code into a network of potentially hundreds of thousands of connectivity satellites.
The startup has given few details about the services it aims to provide from its constellation, which it describes as an intelligent network for connecting internet of things (IoT) devices — using satellites with smaller cross-sections than other constellations to reduce their environmental impact.
CommAgility is being sold for $13.75 million in cash and a $750,000 financial instrument that is subject to agreed-upon reductions.
The companies expect to finalize the acquisition by the end of January.
It is the first deal E-Space has announced publicly since coming out of stealth in February with $50 million in seed financing.
After launching a second batch of prototype satellites in the first half of next year, E-Space expects to move into an initial phase of serial production for a constellation with spectrum filings for 300,000 low Earth orbit satellites.
Wyler also founded LEO broadband operator OneWeb and O3b Networks, the medium Earth orbit broadband operator now owned by SES.