Satellite firm Astranis has secured new investment and financing to fund the development of new machines.

The company this week announced $450 million in capital funding, including both new equity and debt.

The funding includes a new $300 million Series E round co-led by Snowpoint Ventures and Franklin Templeton, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, funds and accounts managed by affiliates of BlackRock, Baillie Gifford, and Fidelity Management & Research Company, as well as BAM Elevate, Nimble Partners, and Friends & Family Capital, along with other existing and new investors.

A delayed-draw credit facility by Trinity Capital adds up to $155 million of additional capital to support the addition of new manufacturing capacity and to support future growth.

Astranis said it will use the new funding to accelerate satellite production for its commercial customers, including the US government.

The latest funding round takes the company’s total raised to more than $1.2 billion.

"The world is more contested and volatile than it once was. Sovereign, secure communications infrastructure is more critical than ever," said John Gedmark, CEO and co-founder of Astranis. "We built Astranis to deliver satellites at speed and at scale. This capital accelerates our ability to meet demand from our commercial customer base around the world, and importantly, we are now spooling up to support multiple US government programs of record simultaneously.”

Astranis develops microGeo satellites - satellites in geostationary orbits that are much smaller than traditional machines at such high orbits. Astranis' satellites are often measured in the hundreds of kilograms, compared to traditional GEO machines that can weigh multiple tons.

The company currently has five of its micro GEO satellites in orbit, and recently announced new projects with customers including Chunghwa Telecom in Taiwan and MB Group in Oman, set to launch later this year.

Astranis has been selected for the initial phase for multiple separate US Department of Defense (also known as the Department of War) Programs of Record as a Prime, including Protected Tactical Satcom-Global (PTS-G), Resilient GPS, and Andromeda.

"GEO is the single most important orbit for national security, and that’s the orbit where we are seeing the largest need for new capability by Space Force. We’re excited to support Astranis as they scale and accelerate delivery for these important US government missions," said Alexander Creasey, general partner at Snowpoint Ventures.