Munich — ARQIS advi­sed SkyFive AG on its Pre-Series A finan­cing round. The invest­ment round was led by a large insti­tu­tio­nal inves­tor from Germany. This joined exis­ting inves­tors, all of whom doubled their initial invest­ment. In addi­tion, two well-known private inves­tors joined the company: Louis Belan­ger-Martin, serial entre­pre­neur and co-foun­der of Global Eagle, and Alain Lejeune, an expe­ri­en­ced mana­ger from the tele­com­mu­ni­ca­ti­ons indus­try with firm roots in China.

SkyFive provi­des high-speed broad­band services to the avia­tion indus­try — based on its paten­ted Air-To-Ground (A2G) solu­tion that uses stan­dard mobile network compon­ents. A2G is the only tech­no­logy that can serve the ever-growing demand for broad­band connec­ti­vity in the sky. Here, broad­band connec­ti­vity is a key factor in impro­ving opera­tio­nal effi­ci­ency, gene­ra­ting ancil­lary reve­nue, and also provi­ding a safer travel expe­ri­ence that requi­res fewer cont­acts and touches.

SkyFive’s A2G solu­tion is alre­ady deployed across Europe. Most recently, SkyFive signed an agree­ment with Airbus in August to provide an A2G solu­tion for China, which has become the largest air-traf­fic market. The capi­tal from the current finan­cing round will enable SkyFive to expand its services and acce­le­rate its global expansion.

The ARQIS team around Dr. Mauritz von Einem and Prof. Dr. Chris­toph von Einem alre­ady supported SkyFive in the acqui­si­tion of the key assets of Nokia’s A2G busi­ness as well as in the seed finan­cing at the end of last year. In the run-up to the current finan­cing round, ARQIS had also mana­ged the conver­sion of SkyFive into a public company in the summer of 2020. Curr­ently, ARQIS is alre­ady mana­ging nego­tia­ti­ons with a number of inter­na­tio­nal insti­tu­tio­nal inves­tors for the Series A finan­cing round that SkyFive aims to close in early 2021.

Advisor SkyFive: ARQIS Rechtsanwälte (Munich)

Dr. Mauritz von Einem and Prof. Dr. Chris­toph von Einem, Foto (both lead; both Tran­sac­tions), Marcus Noth­hel­fer (IP); Asso­cia­tes: Benja­min Bandur, Louisa Theresa Graf (both Tran­sac­tions), Nora Meyer-Strat­mann (IP), Tanja Kurt­zer (Labor Law)

About ARQIS
ARQIS Attor­neys at Law is an inde­pen­dent busi­ness law firm opera­ting in Germany and Japan. The firm was foun­ded in 2006 in Düssel­dorf, Munich and Tokyo. Around 55 profes­sio­nals advise dome­stic and foreign compa­nies at the highest level on German and Japa­nese busi­ness law. For more infor­ma­tion, visit www.arqis.com.