£6.25m to cut satellite terminal power and heat using RF MEMS beamforming
This article covers Sofant Technologies, a hardware startup, closing a c.£6.25 million equity fundraising to move from multi-year R&D towards commercial launch and production of its low-power RF MEMS beamforming hardware. The development aims to support product qualification and early customer deployments in satellite communications, defence and advanced wireless markets.
EMV Capital’s portfolio company Sofant Technologies has closed a c.£6.25 million equity fundraising to move the Edinburgh business from multi-year R&D toward commercial launch and production of its low-power RF MEMS beamforming hardware. The round combines new equity and convertible loan conversions and includes public and strategic backers; it matters because Sofant’s technology aims to cut power and thermal barriers in satellite communications and defence terminals.
Why it matters
Sofant’s work targets a persistent hardware problem in satellite communications and defence platforms: power consumption and heat management. By replacing parts of traditional semiconductor beamforming architectures with RF MEMS, Sofant says it can reduce the size, power and cooling requirements of transmit arrays. If the technology performs at scale, it could make high-throughput, low-latency terminals easier to deploy on satellites, aircraft and remote ground stations.
The company’s progress is also significant from a UK industrial policy perspective. The presence of the National Security Strategic Investment Fund and Scottish Enterprise in the round highlights continued public backing for domestic capability in space and defence technologies, and the involvement of the UK Space Agency and the European Space Agency underlines growing collaboration between public R&D programmes and private hardware development.
Inside the product
Sofant demonstrated what it describes as the world’s first fully functioning Ka-band transmit array using its proprietary RF MEMS beamforming IC in October 2025. The demonstration brought the company’s integration work into a complete transmit array, showing lower power draw and reduced thermal load compared with conventional semiconductor-based systems.
The company operates a fabless semiconductor model and aims to use established high-volume production methods to bring down unit cost. The immediate technical priorities are final qualification of the first commercial products and preparing for early customer deployments in satellite communications, defence and advanced wireless markets.
### Who's backing the round
Who are the investors?
The fundraising totals c.£6.25 million and is structured as roughly £1.1 million of new equity, conversion of approximately £4.7 million of existing convertible loans and accrued interest, and about £430,000 of advance subscriptions. EMV Capital Partners Limited (EMVCP), the venture capital and corporate finance arm of EMV Capital plc (AIM: EMVC), led and syndicated the round, anchoring it with around £0.75 million of new equity, arranging loan conversions and aligning stakeholders.
Named participants include Scottish Enterprise and the National Security Strategic Investment Fund (NSSIF), with other investors and strategic backers such as Kelvin Capital and Caladan Capital previously involved. The round also included conversion of fees owed to EMVCP into equity, increasing EMV Capital’s direct stake.
EMV Capital reported that, following completion, the Group’s fully diluted equity holding in Sofant is 1.2 per cent, equivalent to a post-investment fair value of c.£0.6 million — a roughly 9.3 per cent increase on the fair value of £0.5 million reported at 30 June 2025. EMVCP-introduced third-party assets under management with Sofant represent 27.0 per cent of the fully diluted share capital, equating to a post-investment fair value of c.£13.0 million, up about 10.5 per cent from £11.8 million at 30 June 2025. These percentages exclude outstanding convertible loan arrangements.
Proceeds are earmarked for scaling operations, product qualification and early customer deployments across satellite communications, defence and advanced wireless.
In the announcement, David Wither, CEO of Sofant Technologies, said:
We are pleased to have secured this significant investment from our existing shareholder base, and to welcome NSSIF as a new strategic shareholder. This support is a testament to the disruptive potential of Sofant’s technology and the remarkable progress our team has made in recent months. With this additional capital, we are positioned to accelerate our commercial deployment and redefine what is possible in wireless communications.
EMVC has supported Sofant through several phases of development, and we would like to thank them for leading this round and for their continued support and guidance, along with our wider shareholder base.
In the announcement, Dr Ilian Iliev, CEO of EMV Capital and Sofant Investor Director, said:
EMV Capital’s anchoring of this pivotal funding round reflects our continued confidence in Sofant’s breakthrough low-power RF MEMS technology, which we believe represents a step-change in the architecture of next-generation wireless systems, with the potential to reshape products across defence, aerospace, satellite communications and high-performance enterprise markets.
This investment fits closely with our investment thesis of providing decisive hands-on support at key value inflection points of our portfolio companies, and to help attract strategic finance.
We look forward to working closely with the Sofant team as they scale into global markets and unlock the significant value we believe this technology can create.
If you're researching potential backers in this space:
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Founder perspective
Sofant has appointed Will Whitehorn OBE as Chair to support the company’s move from R&D to commercialisation. Whitehorn brings experience across aerospace and satellite communications and is expected to help steer international expansion and customer introductions.
CEO David Wither has framed the round as validation from both the existing investor base and new strategic shareholders. The company’s near-term priorities are product qualification and customer trials that will test manufacturability and field performance beyond laboratory demonstrations.
The bigger picture
This deal sits at the intersection of several trends in UK and European hardware: growing attention to resilient domestic supply chains for space and defence, increased public investment through vehicles such as NSSIF, and continued ESA and UK Space Agency engagement to de-risk technologies for commercial adoption. For investors, low-power RF front ends represent a targeted play on enabling denser, more efficient terminal architectures for satellite and defence systems.
Sofant’s progress illustrates the challenge hardware startups face when moving from a technical breakthrough to production and certification. The mix of convertible loan conversion and fresh equity, plus public backing, is a common financing pattern for capital-intensive hardware transitions.
As the UK and Europe push to maintain sovereign capabilities in space and advanced wireless, transactions like this are likely to continue — combining venture capital, public funding and strategic investors to bridge the gap between prototype and deployed systems.
They've invested in Sofant Technologies
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| Investor | Sector | Stage | Activity | Team | Connect |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 EMV Capital (EMV Capital plc) | 17 investments investments | 6 contacts contacts | |||
EMV Capital Partners Limited | 2 investments investments | more info | |||
 Scottish Enterprise | 26 investments investments | 4 contacts contacts | |||
 Kelvin Capital Limited | 2 investments investments | 7 contacts contacts | |||
 Caladan Capital | 1 investment investment | more info | |||
 UK Space Agency | 2 investments investments | more info |
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