The panel “How Satellite Startups are Capturing New B2C Enterprise Verticals” at SATELLITE 2018 brought together a diverse range of speakers to discuss the issues facing satellite start-ups. Moderator Craig Mullett, president of the Branison Group, highlighted AI as a key influence yet to arrive in the satellite sector. “I haven’t heard a lot about AI at SATELLITE. We haven’t seen enough of this in the satellite sector,” he said.
Jeff Matthews, specialist leader at Deloitte, said the industry has reached a convergence of trends. “Funding rounds are being closed. New entrants are exiting stealth mode. For us, we see one of the big drivers is the democratization of data. I think where we see the most value is still probably imaging.” Matthews pointed to medical technologies as a vertical to watch for space startups.
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On AI, Matthews said it could be “very transformative” to the space industry but cautioned: “An area we don’t talk about enough is the cyber implications [on space-based start-ups]. We, as an industry, aren’t addressing cyber in the way we should.”
David Shaw, CCO of Astrapi, said: “Two thirds of the world’s population does not have broadband. There is a massive opportunity for satellite operators.” He also challenged the industry’s HTS focus: “Everyone is speaking about high throughput, but there are a lot of low throughput uses as well.”
Naomi Kurahara, CEO of Infostellar, described the startup mentality: “As a new space start-up, if we can’t change the world in five to 10 years, we will die. We have to get revenues. We need to reach the service phase as soon as possible.” VS
