Kinéis completes the deployment of its IoT Constellation and prepares for service launch

Press release • March 18, 2025

With all 25 nanosatellites now in orbit, Kinéis, operator of the first European constellation dedicated to IoT and provider of space-based connectivity, has reached a major milestone. On Tuesday, March 18, 2025, at 2:31 AM (Paris time), Rocket Lab’s Electron launcher successfully completed the «High Five» mission. This fifth and final launch, carried out from Mahia, New Zealand, marks the full deployment of the Kinéis constellation. The Toulouse-based startup is proud to share this achievement with its teams, technical and industrial partners, and to establish France as a leading space power in Europe. Next step: service launch on June 1, 2025.

The rise of a «Made in France» Champion

Since its creation in 2018, Kinéis has been building the European leader in satellite IoT data transmission, a rapidly growing market. Kinéis is the only operational solution capable of addressing the challenge of connectivity in remote areas. The potential is enormous, as 85% of the planet remains uncovered by terrestrial networks.
Today, the success of this fifth and final launch sends a strong international message. It showcases France’s ability to deploy cutting-edge space technology to tackle major challenges for humanity, its activities, and the environment.

«Now, a new chapter begins: positioning this state-of-the-art innovation in the market and realizing our ambition of providing global, accessible satellite connectivity. The challenges ahead match our ambition, and we approach them with enthusiasm and confidence. This crucial phase of the Kinéis project has become a reality thanks to 100% French public and private funding: Bpifrance, CLS, CNES, BNP Paribas Développement, CELAD, industry leaders such as Thales and Hemeria, and other space enthusiasts who have placed their trust in us», emphasizes Christophe Vassal, Chairman of the Kinéis Supervisory Board.

The Kinéis constellation: a technical feat

Kinéis has successfully tackled a major challenge: designing, manufacturing, and launching 25 nanosatellites in record time—less than a year. This achievement is the result of the remarkable work of 60 employees, over 200 experts based in France, and highly skilled technical and industrial partners.

Equipped with cutting-edge technology, Kinéis’ nanosatellites operate in low Earth orbit (LEO) at just 650 km altitude, traveling 40,000 km per orbit. Their proximity to Earth reduces latency and enhances signal quality.

Each Kinéis nanosatellite weighs 28 kg and is equipped with electric propulsion systems powered by solar panels, ensuring orbital stability and collision avoidance. The constellation is complemented by a network of 20 strategically located ground stations, optimizing data processing and transmission speeds.

«The success of this fifth launch marks the completion of the Kinéis constellation deployment—an immense challenge that we have brilliantly overcome! I want to acknowledge the dedication and professionalism of the Kinéis teams and our partners. It is a tremendous source of pride! In 2019, we started from a blank slate to launch this ambitious project. By 2020, we had the opportunity to make it a reality by securing contracts for the main space and ground components. This allowed our teams to design, develop, validate, and prepare the launch of all 25 satellites with a spirit of cooperation, innovation, and excellence», says Michel Sarthou, CTO of Kinéis.

The upcoming launch of Kinéis services

Kinéis is moving closer to the commercialization of its services. This key milestone will enable near real-time data transmission from any point on the globe.

The potential applications are vast and the benefits substantial—offering the ability to locate, monitor, and alert across critical sectors not covered by terrestrial networks. These include natural disaster prevention (such as wildfire, flood, drought, and pollution detection), infrastructure and energy network monitoring, transport and logistics tracking, and maritime activity surveillance.

Kinéis is targeting a global market with subsidiaries in the United
States and Brazil. The company is already leveraging several
commercial partnerships to support its growth and is conducting test deployments with various clients. Kinéis is also one of the winners of the French «France 2030» investment plan dedicated to the space sector.

Kinéis expects to reach profitability this year, exceed €20 million in revenue by 2026, and achieve €100 million within the next eight years

Warm thanks

The successful orbiting of the first 5 nanosatellites in the Kinéis constellation would not have been possible without its technical and industrial partners:

CNES, for the satellite command and control centre and constellation operations as an integrated team, until the handover to the Kinéis teams in 2025,
Hemeria, for the development of the platform (solar panels and harnesses manufactured in-house), integration and industrialisation of the nanosatellites,
Thales Alenia Space, for payloads (engineering, software, integration) and the mission centre,
Syrlinks, for payloads (hardware and production),
Cobham, for the co-design of the UHF/S antenna,
Comat, for the co-design and production of the UHF/S antenna and the reaction wheels,
Steel Electronique, for the On Board Computer (OBC),
Erems, for the satellite’s power management and distribution box,
Sodern, for the star sensor,
Safran for the ground station receivers,
Exail for the system beacons (remote controls) and reference beacons (system monitoring),
Scalian for the test benches associated with payloads and mission performance,
Cegedim, to host the IT resources and provide connections with the control rooms (Kinéis and CNES) and with the ground stations.