(Yicai Global) March 5 -- Qiansheng Exploration Technology, which claims to be China’s largest private satellite developer, has secured over CNY100 million (USD15.4 million) in A-round financing led by the Fuzhou High-tech Emerging Industry Development Fund.

The money will be used to expand Qiansheng Exploration’s smart factory for satellites and develop a satellite constellation networking system, The Paper reported today.

The Beijing firm launched its first satellite, the Qiansheng-1-01, on Aug. 17, 2019, capable of taking photos of the earth with a resolution of two meters from its orbit 540 kilometers away.

The company plans to develop three satellite constellations, which are a group of space capsules that work together as a system, the Qiansheng-1, Qiansheng-2, and Qiansheng-3, with a total of 60 satellites.

The satellites can provide monitoring services in the fields of agriculture, construction and environment protection among other uses.

The startup, founded in 2017, secured pre-Series A funding in 2018 but did not disclose the amount raised.

Editor: Kim Taylor