Satellite content delivery startup V-Satcast is close to securing the US$60m it needs to launch a cached-based Over The Top service next year.
Satellite content delivery startup V-Satcast is close to securing the US$60m it needs to launch a cached-based Over The Top service next year.
The group is talking to three potential strategic partners about a US$30m equity investment after already netting US$30m in debt from US-based investors, its executive chairman Vern Fotheringham told SatelliteFinance in an interview.
The funding will enable V-Satcast to provide vertically integrated digital media services to a wide range of devices around the world. The company aims to use existing DTH satellites to beam large amounts of content to a storage device that can instantly stream it to the consumer.
“We are moving the cloud to the fog,” Fotheringham said.
Fotheringham was until recently the CEO of satellite operator startup LeoSat and, before that, led Kymeta through the metamaterials specialist’s early fundraising to develop its satcoms antenna. He set up his latest venture with hosting platform pioneer Jamie Howard, XM Satellite Radio co-founder Lee Abrams, and music producer Quincy Jones.
US-based V-Satcast has about about 20 employees in total, and expects to double its workforce by the end up November as it ramps up its content side.
Fotheringham pointed to research showing IP video is set to soar from being 66% of all consumer internet traffic in 2013 to 79% in 2018, adding that ISPs will be forced to pass on additional costs to consumers as they struggle to keep up with demand.
Coupled with this is the low cost of storage, which has been falling “almost logarithmically” and paves the way for a cache-based solution.
As well as providing a route for 4K and 8K content to bypass strained local access networks, Fotheringham noted that V-Satcast can avoid being caught up in net neutrality issues seen in countries such as the US.
“We’re not an ISP, we’re a file transfer company,” he said.
“The internet happens at your house, and you can use the internet tools on your land.”
He said the system will also enable tailored advertising solutions, potentially opening new revenue streams later down the line.
Other possible uses include website hosting in a country such as India which has areas where 2G speeds are the norm. 2G device users, for instance, would be able to access an e-commerce site that requires a broadband connection if the bulk of it is already cached at a home or village centre.
