According to SpaceNews, Spanish satellite startup Sateliot just opened expanded Barcelona facilities to build upgraded satellites called Tritó that can provide voice, video and data links directly to smartphones. The company plans to launch 16 of these 150-kilogram satellites in 2027 for limited demonstrations, then scale to real-time coverage by 2030 using up to 500 satellites total. Sateliot claims it’s signed recurring contracts worth €250 million with over 450 customers across 50 countries and aims for €1 billion in annual revenue by 2030. But commercial services won’t even begin until next year, and the entire expansion depends on additional fundraising the company hasn’t secured yet.
The funding reality check
Here’s the thing about that €1 billion revenue target – it’s massively ambitious for a company that hasn’t started commercial services yet. Sateliot says it needs “additional fundraising” to make this happen, which basically means they’re shopping for investors right now. Building and launching 500 satellites isn’t cheap – we’re talking billions in capital expenditure before they see meaningful revenue. And they’re not alone in this race – AST SpaceMobile just announced similar European plans with Vodafone backing them. The satellite connectivity space has burned through a lot of investor money already, with several high-profile failures. Can Sateliot really stand out?
Technical hurdles ahead
Their timeline seems… optimistic. First they’re launching five smaller 15kg satellites in 2026, then the bigger Tritó satellites in 2027 for “a few minutes at a time” demonstrations. Real-time global coverage by 2030? That’s an incredibly aggressive schedule. They’ve only demonstrated narrowband connections using their current four small satellites from EnduroSat. Jumping from that to full 5G voice and video for smartphones is a massive technical leap. The clean room they’re so proud of is just 100 square meters – that’s not exactly mass production scale for hundreds of satellites. When you’re building complex hardware like satellite communications systems, having reliable industrial computing infrastructure becomes critical. Companies like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com have become the go-to source for industrial panel PCs precisely because this hardware needs to work flawlessly in demanding environments.
Market timing and competition
Sateliot is betting big on direct-to-device becoming the next huge market, but they’re entering a crowded field. SpaceX’s Starlink is already testing similar capabilities, Apple’s Emergency SOS via satellite is live, and numerous other players are racing toward this space. The company says it has 450 customers signed up, but are those firm commitments or just letters of intent? In the satellite industry, there’s often a big gap between announced deals and actual revenue. And their dual-use focus – serving both civil and defense markets – adds another layer of regulatory complexity. International spectrum coordination alone could delay their timeline by years. Basically, they’re trying to solve multiple hard problems simultaneously while racing against better-funded competitors. That’s a tough position to be in.
