Sceye, a U.S. aerospace company specializing in High-Altitude Platform Systems (HAPS) for connectivity and environmental monitoring from the stratosphere, announced it received a strategic investment from SoftBank Corp, a leading operator of telecommunications and IT businesses in Japan and globally. The investment was made as part of the first tranche of Sceye’s Series C funding round. In addition to the strategic investment, SoftBank is also purchasing a HAPS pre-commercial Japan flight in 2026.
The partnership strengthens SoftBank’s longstanding advocacy for the HAPS industry as a transformative infrastructure to enhance connectivity and address global challenges. While conventional mobile networks have focused on 2D coverage for smartphones and vehicles, the upcoming 6G era will demand telecommunications infrastructure with 3D architecture to support increasing connectivity for drones and UAVs in the sky. Building on its history in Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) solutions, SoftBank is investing in Sceye’s HAPS-based stratospheric telecommunications as a highly scalable solution to complement their existing terrestrial towers and satellite constellations.
As part of the strategic collaboration, SoftBank plans to begin providing pre-commercial HAPS services in Japan in 2026. These services are expected to support communication recovery during disruptions due to large-scale disasters, such as major earthquakes, and deliver connectivity to hard-to-reach areas, including mountainous regions and remote islands. Leveraging the advantages of HAPS – faster speeds, greater capacity, lower latency, and more flexible deployment capabilities compared to satellite-based communications – SoftBank, in collaboration with Sceye, will strengthen its network resilience and promote universal service nationwide.
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“SoftBank brings a wealth of experience in non-terrestrial connectivity and has long championed the stratosphere as the next frontier for solving some of the world’s most pressing challenges,” said Mikkel Vestergaard Frandsen, CEO and Founder of Sceye. “Their investment affirms the viability of Sceye’s platform. We’re proud to welcome them as a strategic partner as we accelerate toward commercial service.”
This investment follows Sceye’s successful 2024 flight program, where it became the first to complete a full diurnal flight in the stratosphere while staying over an area of operation for over 24-hours. This key proof point confirms the viability of geostationary platforms below orbital altitude and was a decisive factor in the partnership.
SOURCE: PRNewswire