In addition to its presence in Canada and the United Kingdom, the satellite-telecommunications company plans to open a U.S. office (likely in Washington, D.C.), where it will hire new sales, marketing and engineering staff. (The Logic, CNBC)

Talking point: The Series B will bolster Kepler’s ambition to build a wireless network in space at a time when more commercial space tourism ventures are emerging. “There is a growing need to get data generated in space back to earth, and this is a need Kepler is uniquely qualified to address,” Kepler CTO and co-founder Wen Cheng Chong said in a statement. But the market for low-Earth orbit satellites has been heating up, with other companies, including Ottawa-based Telesat LEO, racing to launch their own networks that beam high-speed internet from space.