TAMPA, Fla. – Year-old California startup AnySignal emerged from stealth mode on October 16 with $5 million in funding behind a multi-purpose satellite radio platform.
AnySignal Group operates across multiple spectrum bands, said Jeffrey Osborne, chief operating officer and co-founder space news, It comes with ground equipment for hardware-in-the-loop testing, modems that can be upgraded to different waveforms, licensing support, and software that enables the radio to interface with various aviation systems.
The Los Angeles-area venture hopes its focus on end-to-end customer products will give it an edge over incumbent radio providers like L3Harris Technologies, an aerospace and defense giant that generated more than $22 billion last year.
A L3Harris spokesperson said there are more than 180 AppSTAR software-defined radio platforms currently in orbit, and the company provides the ground parts for many of them.
But while traditional IPOs also provide end-to-end services, Osborne said AnySignal aims to improve performance and reduce costs through tight integration of its offerings, which unlike many larger competitors have not been shaped by acquisitions.
“Think of SpaceX versus ULA, where the former has vertically integrated and built its business from the ground up versus the latter which is much more important,” he said. [siloed] How did this develop in terms of differentiation and leadership in the market?
John Malsbury, AnySignal’s CEO, is a former SpaceX engineer who helped manage signal processing development for its rockets, the Starshield military product line, the Starlink communications network, and the Dragon 2 space capsule, according to AnySignal’s press release announcing its funding on October 16.
AnySignal Radio is set to fly for the first time in November with a customer aboard SpaceX’s Transporter 9 ride-sharing mission, said Osborne, who also co-founded Canadian small satellite operator Kepler Communications.
He added that the radio will appear on carrier missions, and will also fly on hypersonic vehicles next year as part of test programs.
AnySignal’s software-defined radio platform has a universal dual-antenna receiver for the navigation satellite system, which is compatible with Ultra High Frequency (UHF), S-Band, L-Band and X-Band.
Frequencies across these spectrum bands are used for a variety of applications in space, from Earth observation downlinks to communications between two spacecraft in orbit. The radio is not compatible with broadband Ka-band and high-speed Ku-band spectrum.
The company also offers more basic services such as antenna placement and cable routing support. AnySignal says these services are geared toward space startups with limited resources.
AnySignal already generates revenue from a mix of commercial and government customers, Osborne said.
The project plans to expand its team of eight full-time employees to about 15 by the end of this year, and about 30 by the summer, he said.
The company’s primary goal is to expand its engineering and sales teams to increase production and environmental testing capacity, improve security compliance to meet Department of Defense contracting requirements, and initial development of additional products.
Venture capital firm Blueyard Capital led AnySignal’s seed funding round, and was joined by early-stage investors First In, Also Capital, Acequia Capital, and Caffeinated Capital.
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