In-flight connectivity providers talk a lot about quality of service guarantees. For passengers, the quality of experience (QoE) is arguably more significant. And now an upstart in that segment, ESpace Networks, has $10 million more to expand its technology platform. ESpace closed its Series A funding round, led by Columbia Capital.
We believe ESpace Networks’ solutions allow customers to take full advantage of a generational shift in the satellite connectivity market. We couldn’t be more excited to back the ESpace Networks team as they continue to scale the business and address this rapidly growing market need.
– Monish Kundra, Partner at Columbia Capital
Speaking to PaxEx.Aero earlier this Spring, founder Benny Rentamony explained the gap he saw in the market. “We saw there was a lack of independent view into provider performance, a gap between SLA and quality of experience. This is what we’re trying to address with an independent view, and then the independent control of data links.”
Rentamony continued, “Yes, we measure metrics. But it is not just one metric that defines the quality of experience. We take the raw metrics and convert them, using machine leaning models, to scores that help operators understand what’s happening. They can have a flight score, a tail score. But then we extend that to more actionable intelligence. Is it a procurement problem? Is it an SLA problem? Do I have to change and how I buy bandwidth or just better manage the existing bandwidth? We help our customers understand what they need to change to make it better.”
In addition to the funding boost, Rupert Pearce, former CEO of Inmarsat, will join the ESpace Board of Directors as Chairman. Walé Adepoju, founder of IMDC and former CCO/COO of Global Eagle, will also join the Board. Pearce and Adepoju have extensive experience in the satellite and in-flight entertainment and connectivity markets for commercial aviation, a key market for ESpace Networks.
In announcing its funding round, ESpace also disclosed successful product launches in the past year with Fortune 500 customers in both the cruise and commercial aviation sectors.
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