The Tokyo startup sees strong demand from satellite operators monitoring events on the ground amid geopolitical tensions

Infostellar will expand its business of connecting satellites to ground stations, allowing satellite operators to quickly access the data gathered by their eyes in the sky. The Tokyo startup sees strong demand from satellite operators monitoring events on the ground amid geopolitical tensions.

Its customers are operators of commercial observation satellites. These satellites can take close-up images of the ground, but those images have to be sent back to Earth quickly if they are to be useful. That’s where Infostellar comes in.

Infostellar doesn’t have antennas of its own. What it does is connect ground stations around the world, finding the nearest one so that a satellite can download its data quickly.

It has connections with four ground stations at present and plans raise that number to 20 by around summer. It has raised funds from investors to hire more people and to bring more ground stations into its network, said Naomi Kurahara, the company’s co-founder and CEO.

The company is also considering an initial public offering to expand its business further, she said.

Timeliness is becoming more and more important, Kurahara said. Customers want to get data as soon as natural disasters or national security events happen. If there is a ground station near a satellite, the data can be downlinked more quickly.

Infostellar’s service is largely automated and does not require a large workforce. The company has a staff of 17, including Kurahara herself, operating out of three bases — Japan, the U.K. and the U.S.

Infostellar has competitors in the ground station market, among them RBC Signals of the U.S. and Leaf Space of Italy, both of which target commercial satellite operators. But Kurahara said Infostellar is the only company focused on sharing and connecting ground stations.