A Long March 2D rocket lifts off from Xichang spaceport Sept. 17, 2023, carrying a second group of Yaogan-39 triplets. Credit: Ourspace
HELSINKI — A Chinese startup building a constellation to detect and geolocate radio-frequency emissions from orbit has closed a funding round as China’s commercial sector expands.
Tianjin-based Xingkan Jiuzhou Technology, using the English name StarRF, announced Aug. 21 that it completed a Pre-A+ funding round led by Shandong state-owned investor Luxin Venture Capital, alongside Tianqi Capital and Haitang Fund. Existing investor Junyuan Capital also participated. The amount was not disclosed.
StarRF, founded in November 2023, is building a low Earth orbit constellation called “Diting” to monitor electromagnetic spectrum activity across land and sea, developing proprietary technology for radio signal reception, demodulation, analysis and transmitter geolocation. The new funding will go toward research and development, market expansion and team building, the announcement said.
The business model places StarRF in the same commercial niche as U.S. and European firms such as HawkEye 360, BAE’s Azalea and Unseenlabs, which operate constellations that detect and triangulate RF emitters for applications spanning maritime domain awareness to GPS jamming detection. Junyuan Capital, in a portfolio update following the round, went further, stating that StarRF will use three-satellite formation flying for space-based RF data collection and analysis. The three-satellite geolocation method also echoes China’s own Yaogan triplets, groups of satellites long assessed by open-source analysts as electronic intelligence assets flown by the People’s Liberation Army in triangular formation to detect and geolocate radio emissions from naval vessels, a technique similar to the U.S. Naval Ocean Surveillance System (NOSS).
