Australian-based Myriota has picked up four satellites, spectrum licenses, and a network of ground stations from exactEarth, a satellite ship-tracking provider headquartered in Canada, along with four full time personnel. The deal increases Myriota’s ability to deliver low-cost, low-power IoT services via satellite.
“This acquisition is a huge opportunity for our business to grow its North American footprint,” said Alex Grant, Co-founder and CEO, Myriota. “It will add industry-leading capabilities in key areas such as satellite operations, engineering and spectrum management from an experienced team, and will fast-track our development with established ground facilities and ground stations.”
Under terms of the deal, exactEarth gets $150,000 (CA) cash and another $450,000 (CA) in preferred Myriota stock. Publicly-trade exactEarth says it expects to save around $1 million (CA) per year from the divestiture of the asset but Myriota won’t be paying exactEarth revenues for satellite usage, which amounted to around $1.1 million CA in fiscal 2019.
From an operational standpoint, Myriota will be to operate on a 24 hour a day basis with offices between Canada and Australia. The satellite IoT company’s newly created Canadian subsidiary will continue to provide AIS data from the four satellites as well as the other satellites in exactEarth’s first-generation constellation for their remaining orbital lifetimes.
Myriota and exactEarth didn’t discuss the expected orbital lifetime of the four transferred satellites. Last year Myriota ordered three new IoT cubesats from Terran Orbital for launch starting at the end of 2019 and was using three exactEarth satellites along with one 3U cubesat of its own. Ultimately, the company plans to operate a constellation of at least 25 satellites by 2020, using both its own satellites and leasing capability or hosting payloads onboard other satellites.
In September 2019, Myriota told IoT Evolution it planned to offer services in North America and was seeking regulatory approval to operate in the United States and Canada. The company is currently scheduled to exhibit at Internet of Things World in San Jose, currently set for August of this year.
