Hubble Network Raises US$200M to Link Any Bluetooth Chip to Its Satellites

Hubble Network, a Seattle-based startup that connects ordinary Bluetooth chips directly to satellites, raised a US$200 million Series C at a US$1.6 billion valuation, the company announced on September 23. Smith Point Capital led the round, with participation from Seraphim, Carthona Capital, Earthshot Ventures, Y Combinator and RPM Ventures. The deal brings total funding to US$300 million and comes a year after a US$70 million Series B. Hubble was founded in 2021 by Chief Executive Officer Alex Haro, who previously co-founded family-location app Life360, and Chief Technology Officer Ben Wild, who invented Amazon Sidewalk. The company has about 70 employees.

Alongside the raise, Hubble moved its service from closed beta to general availability, meaning any Bluetooth Low Energy device can now reach its network through a software kit and a firmware update, with no cellular modem, GPS or dedicated satellite hardware. The company operates six satellites in low Earth orbit that pass over each location about twice a day, supplemented by more than 100 million ground-based Bluetooth gateways across 170 countries. It says more than 500,000 devices are active on the network, up tenfold from a year ago, with customers and partners including fleet software company Samsara, Texas Instruments and smart-label maker Reelables. The funding will help expand the constellation to 60 satellites by 2030, built with Muon Space, with the first two next-generation satellites, carrying ten times more Bluetooth-detecting antennas, due in 2027.

Market Context

Hubble's pitch is cost. A Bluetooth tracking chip costs less than 50 cents, compared with roughly US$50 for a cellular chip, and it can run for years on a small battery. GeekWire reports the service is priced at about US$4 a month per device. That economics opens tracking to low-value assets that were never worth connecting before: shipping labels, pallets, livestock in remote pastures and industrial sensors beyond cell coverage. The trade-off is that Hubble's system is largely one-way and not real-time, sending scheduled location and sensor readings rather than supporting live, two-way communication.

The raise also reflects how crowded and well funded the direct-to-device satellite market has become. SpaceX's Starlink and Amazon's Leo are building connectivity for phones and consumer broadband, while players such as Skylo route standard cellular IoT signals through satellites using 3GPP non-terrestrial network standards. Hubble has carved out the low-power end of the market, and its move to general availability, backed by a unicorn valuation, signals investors believe that niche can grow into a broad layer of infrastructure for the physical economy.

The Signal

"When we said we'd connect Bluetooth chips to satellites, most of the industry said the physics wouldn't allow it. Today we're turning that early skepticism into a global opportunity." — Alex Haro, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Hubble Network

Regional Relevance

For the United States, Hubble points to a cheaper way to track goods across fragmented supply chains. Logistics operators, farmers and insurers have long lacked affordable visibility outside cellular range, and a firmware-level fix for devices that already carry Bluetooth could bring millions of low-cost assets online without new hardware. It also adds a new commercial layer to a U.S. space industry increasingly focused on services built on top of launch capacity rather than launch itself.

For Seattle and the Pacific Northwest, Hubble strengthens the region's standing as a hub for satellite connectivity. It now sits alongside SpaceX's Starlink operation in Redmond and Amazon's Leo division in Kirkland, but targets a different segment: low-power devices rather than high-bandwidth internet. A homegrown satellite unicorn gives the local space economy a third pillar and a talent pipeline that does not depend solely on the two largest players.

The Other Side

Can six satellites support a US$1.6 billion valuation? Today's constellation revisits each location only about twice a day, which works for slow-moving assets but not for time-sensitive tracking. Much of the valuation rests on a 60-satellite network that will not be fully deployed until 2030, and satellite rollouts often slip.

Will cheaper chips beat standards-based rivals? Skylo and major carriers are pushing satellite IoT that works with standard cellular modules and supports two-way messaging. If chipmakers bake those standards into low-cost modems, Hubble's price advantage could narrow and customers may prefer a single standard over a proprietary network.

Is US$4 a month cheap enough for 50-cent devices? The hardware math is compelling, but for a shipping label or a pallet tag, recurring subscription costs can quickly exceed the device's value. Hubble's growth will depend on pricing that works at the scale of billions of low-value objects, not hundreds of thousands.

Sources & Transparency

• Hubble Network Opens Satellite Coverage to All Bluetooth Devices, Raises $200 Million Series C at $1.6 Billion Valuation
• Hubble Network raises $200M to reach $1.6B valuation as startup expands satellite Bluetooth network
• Hubble Network Raises $200M Series C at $1.6B Valuation
• Satellite Bluetooth startup Hubble Network raises $200 million at $1.6 billion valuation
• Hubble Network raises $200M at $1.6B valuation to connect Bluetooth devices directly to satellites
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