ProtoStar makes big Asian satellite-to-TV bet

November 16, 2006 | Matt Marshall

ProtoStar, of San Francisco, which is about to launch its first geostationary satellite to serve the Asian residential TV market, has raised a whopper round of US$210 million in financing.

This financing was preceded by a US$40 million second round, which we’d reported earlier. New Enterprise Associate, the big Silicon Valley venture firm was behind that earlier round. It’s no surprise, then, that ProtoStar is on steroids; we’ve written before about how NEA likes to make really big bets.

The company’s plan is to build a three-satellite constellation, on the hunch that the home market in China and elsewhere in Asia is underserved — but the system will take time to build. ProtoStar has signed a deal with China Telecommunications Broadcast Satellite Corp. and Space Systems/Loral to help it launch the satellite, renamed ProtoStar I, by early 2008. Then, you’ve got to more satellites to launch.

The most recent financing consists of $160 million of convertible debt, and $50 million in capital.

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About the Author, Matt Marshall

Matt launched VentureBeat in September of 2006, with the realization that no one else was covering the entrepreneurial and tech innovation scene with the velocity or depth that he was. Prior to founding VentureBeat, he covered venture capital for the San Jose Mercury News from 2001 to 2006. In 2002, Matt was awarded "Journalist of the Year" by the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists. Prior to working at the Merc, he was a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal in Bonn, Germany from 1995 to 1998, and a writer for the Washington Post in 1994. Matt holds a PhD in Government and an MA in German and European Studies from Georgetown University. In addition to VentureBeat, Matt is also the Executive Producer of DEMO, the leading launchpad event for emerging technologies.