SAN FRANCISCO – Kymeta Corp. announced the acquisition Aug. 18 of Lepton Global Solutions LLC, a Virginia-based satellite services specialist. Under the terms of the deal, Lepton Global Solutions will become a wholly owned Kymeta subsidiary.
With the acquisition, Kymeta deepens its expertise in offering communications services to U.S. government agencies that have expressed interest in purchasing an “entire connectivity solution” rather than hardware alone, Kymeta Executive Chairman Doug Hutcheson told SpaceNews. “Lepton, over the years, has done a great job at providing that solution.”
Walter Berger, Kymeta president and chief operating officer, called the Lepton acquisition “an accelerator for where we want to take the business in terms specifically of military or government-related activities.”
Redmond, Washington-based Kymeta began shipping electronically steered flat-panel antennas in 2017. At the Satellite 2020 conference in March, Kymeta unveiled its next-generation Kymeta u8 flat panel antenna and announced Kymeta Connect, a hybrid satellite-cellular connectivity service with subscriptions starting at $999 per month including hardware.
Current and prospective customers will be able to purchase Kymeta hardware alone or buy subscriptions covering hardware and managed services, Berger said.
Beta testing of Kymeta u8 is scheduled to begin this month and the product is slated for commercial release in the fourth quarter of 2020.
By acquiring Lepton, Kymeta improves its ability to offer managed services and run network operations centers, Berger said.
Kymeta is focused on making sure its acquisition of Lepton does not inconvenience customers. Lepton will continue to manage networks and provide customer service, Berger said.
Kymeta plans to establish an East Coast office, “which is very critical for us strategically as that’s close to where our customer base is going to be,” Berger said. In addition with an East Coast office, Kymeta will be better able to attract and retain employees with “depth and skill and domain knowledge” in serving government customers, he added.