Bill Gates invests $78 million in satellite antenna firm Kymeta

Bill Gates is leading satellite antenna firm Kymeta's latest funding round with a $78 million (roughly Rs. 578 crores) investment. Redmond, Washington-based Kymeta, which sells pizza box-sized antennas for installation on cars, trains and boats, secured $85.2 million (roughly Rs. 633 crores) in capital.  

It plans to launch a monthly subscription service for satellite-based internet to government customers later this year, Kymeta President and COO Walter Berger said. 

“The thesis here is to advance connectivity on a global basis. Cellular doesn't do that,” he said. 

Kymeta antennas are used to link satellites in high orbital altitudes and can link to remote places as well as moving planes and vehicles. Microsoft founder is the only one to invest in this tech. A range of companies, like Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Amazon, are building networks of satellites in low-Earth orbit, an expensive and high-risk endeavor that has sent satellite operator OneWeb into bankruptcy. 

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Kymeta's funding round comes on the heels of acquiring satellite service provider Lepton Global Solutions, cementing a key government customer base and gaining access to 17 communications satellites in orbit. 

The company plans to launch a satellite antenna bundle by the end of 2020 for $1,000 (roughly Rs. 74,303)  a month, Berger said. Kymeta has been in discussions with various companies building low-Earth orbit satellite constellations, Berger said. 

Meanwhile, Windows 95 launched by Gates on August 24, 1995, turned 25 yesterday. The software was so popular that seven million copies were sold during the first five weeks. Microsoft added several features to Windows 95 but the best ones were a new Start button, menu and taskbar to navigate the operating system with so much ease.  

Besides being a 32-bit operating system, a key addition was support for long filenames, up to 250 characters. Another big feature was the introduction of Plug and Play, to automatically detect and install hardware.