Protostar Ltd. has received a commitment for a $40 million round of financing from a venture capital syndicate. Vantagepoint Venture Partners of San Bruno, Calif., led the round with participation from existing Protostar investors, New Enterprise Associates and Redshift Ventures.

Protostar is developing a constellation of geostationary satellites to provide service to direct-to-home (DTH) companies in Asia. The initial plan calls for a three-satellite constellation that will cover South Asia, Southeast Asia and China, an area containing more than 3 billion people. Protostar expects to complete construction and launch its first satellite, Protostar 1, in the first quarter of 2008. Protostar 1 is being built by Space Systems/Loral.

Concurrent with the financing, Protostar appointed director Steven Dorfman as chairman of the board and announced that Duncan Davidson, managing director of Vantagepoint, has joined Protostar’s board. John Higginbotham, Protostar’s outgoing chairman, will remain on the board as an independent director.