iSKY announced today that it has closed a round of equity funding, raising a total of $137 million. All major existing shareholders participated in this second round, including such blue chip investors as Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Liberty Media, TV Guide, and TRW. As previously announced, EchoStar was the lead investor in this round with a $50 million investment.
“We are now ahead of iSKY¿s financing goals,” said Thomas Moore, president and CEO of iSKY. “We are well on our way to deploying the first Ka band satellite that can provide affordable broadband Internet access to every person in the United States, Canada and Latin America. We forecast that at least 25 to 30 million homes in the U.S. will not have access to other broadband solutions when we launch next year.”
iSKY has now raised approximately half of the $750 million in debt and equity financing needed for its initial phase of operations. The initial phase will consist of iSKY¿s first satellite, iSKY1, and the recently announced Ka-payload on Telesat ANIK F2. This financing will be used to fund the capital program, operating and marketing costs.
“Our funding needs are relatively low compared to other satellite, cable and DSL infrastructure players, when you consider we will be able to reach virtually every household in North America with a broadband solution with this initial phase alone,” said Paul Froelich, iSKY¿s vice president of finance.
iSKY will roll out affordable broadband services via satellite direct to U.S. homes and small offices, regardless of their locations in late 2001. The company plans to expand service to Canada and Latin America. This innovative company was founded to accelerate customer broadband access to the Internet.
