Last year marked a record for investment in space startups, with $3.2 billion from venture capital and angel investors, Bryce Space and Technology said Thursday. Since 2000, space startups have attracted close to $21.8 billion, with activity particularly intense since 2015, it said. In the early 2000s, an average of four funded space companies started per year, and in the past six years the number has averaged 21 annually, it said. Last year's activity was driven largely by big investments in SpaceX and Blue origin, it said, saying more investment growth is expected this year. U.S. companies receive about 80 percent of overall startup space investment, and companies in China and the U.K. received most of the non-U.S. investment, it said. Roughly half of the space startup investment was from non-U.S. sources, it said. Separately, the Space Foundation said U.S. federal investment in space rose 10 percent in 2018. NASA's $20.74 billion budget and DOD's $24.53 billion in space spending was the vast bulk of the overall $48.31 billion. The foundation said globally, governments spent $77.22 billion on space.

ViaSat unveiled its Business Hotspots service targeting small and mid-sized businesses wanting to offer free, in-store Wi-Fi to customers. It said Tuesday the hot spot service, starting at $40 monthly, partitions the business' internet operations from customer activity, with two networks from one internet connection.

Amazon's Project Kuiper broadband satellite constellation plans (see 1904040034) seem to be making it more difficult for SpaceX to raise capital it needs for its Starlink broadband constellation, satellite consultant Tim Farrar blogged Monday. It's unknown whether Project Kuiper can derail SpaceX's satellite plans, which could in turn mean trouble for its rocket launch business as launch demand declines and its backlog shrinks, Farrar said. SpaceX didn't comment.

Questions about when Amazon hopes to begin launches for its proposed 3,236-satellite broadband constellation or when it might become operational are premature, the company emailed us Thursday. It said Project Kuiper filings at the ITU last week (see here, here and here) are aimed at global broadband coverage targeting "tens of millions of people who lack basic access to broadband internet." Secure World Foundation Director-Program Planning Brian Weeden tweeted that the filings seem to point to it leaving all the satellites in orbit for close to 25 years, which isn't "very good for #spacesustainability."

Cumulative in-flight connectivity revenue over the next decade will be $36 billion as more airlines tie their fleets to high-throughput satellite services, Northern Sky Research said Tuesday. But 2018 was a challenging year due to equipment installation delays, airline indecisiveness and business model uncertainty, it said. All major airlines now are signed up for some form of connectivity, and the remaining opportunity is with smaller airlines, it said. Over the next decade, capacity pricing should go down significantly, meaning service providers will have to grow value-added services to make up for those pricing savings customers will see.

Dish and Univision reached long-term agreement for carriage on DishLatino and Dish, the companies said Tuesday. It ends a blackout over fees that began in June (see 1807020030). Restoration of Univision channels, including UniMas, Univision Deportes Network and Galavision, began immediately, they said. The companies agreed to settle all pending litigation between them. The companies aren't sharing deal length or additional terms, said a Dish spokesperson.

SpaceX's planned satellite design would meet or exceed all FCC requirements for orbital debris mitigation and collision avoidance, company officials told International Bureau staffers, said a posting Monday. The satellite operator said interference red flags by OneWeb were disingenuous since SpaceX's criticized methodology is the same OneWeb has used in the past. OneWeb didn't comment Tuesday. SpaceX is seeking approval for amending Ku- and Ka-band mega constellation plans so it could have 1,584 satellites orbit at 550 kilometers instead of higher (see 1811090002).

A $1.25 billion fundraising round means OneWeb now has the rest of the money needed for its 650-satellite broadband satellite constellation to go active by 2021, a spokesperson said Monday. OneWeb said the new funding round was led by SoftBank, Grupo Salinas, Qualcomm and the Rwandan government. It said it makes the satellite service "inevitable." OneWeb CEO Greg Wyler tweeted the money "keeps us on track to achieve our mission as our Florida satellite facility moves into full production." OneWeb said starting in Q4, it expects to begin monthly launches of more than 30 satellites at a time. The first six satellites of the constellation were launched last month (see 1902280007).

The first six of OneWeb's broadband satellites launched Wednesday from Kourou, French Guiana, the company said Thursday. It said its monthly launch schedule will expand its constellation to more than 650 satellites, allowing customer demos in 2020 and full global commercial coverage by 2021.

ViaSat and Facebook will partner on an Internet connectivity initiative in rural areas internationally, revolving around the satellite operator's community Wi-Fi hot spot service, they said Wednesday. They said Facebook is investing in the rollout of thousands of such hot spots in ViaSat's current and planned coverage footprint, with the initial focus being expansion of ViaSat's community Wi-Fi service in Mexico and a subsequent global expansion possible.