Our new Seraphim Space Ventures II (SSV II) portfolio company, AscendArc, emerged from stealth this morning with $4M in funding to develop small GEO communication satellites.
The company, founded by ex-Starlink engineer Chris McLain, raised $505,000 in a pre-seed round and $3.45M in seed funding. Investors include Seraphim Space, Everywhere Ventures, Portland Seed Fund, Thermo, and Hunter Communications.
GEO satellites have historically been exceptionally large (often 5,000 kg+) and costly to develop, while LEO connectivity requires massive constellations that spend most of their time unused over oceans. Ascend believes the sweet spot is in smaller (sub-1,000 kg) GEO satellites that can provide continuous coverage over a specific region—albeit at slower connectivity speeds than LEO.
Ascend Arc also secured a $1.8M Phase II Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Air Force contract to refine its tech for military frequency bands, encryption, and anti-jamming capabilities.
“Their innovative approach holds the potential not only to revolutionise commercial satellite communications—providing even lower cost satellites for the commercial market—but also to provide crucial solutions for countries’ national security,” said Seraphim Investment VP Lewis Jones.
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