SOFANT25 Jun 2026 22:22
Looks like Sofant could be a company maker!
COUNTDOWN: Space tech radar firm, Sofant Technologies raising funds as it aims for stars
EXCLUSIVE WITH KENNY KEMP, EDITOR OF THE BUSINESS, JUNE 25, 2026 8 MIN READ
An Edinburgh-based technology company which has invented micro-radio transmitters and receivers for aviation and space satellites is one of Scotland’s most exciting new generation companies.
Sofant Technologies is now raising new capital to scale-up its operations after refining the development of its proprietary RF MEMS technology and growing its team for over 13 years. MEMS stand for microelectromechanical systems.
Communication industry insiders say the company has the potential to become one of Scotland’s rare beasts: a technology unicorn with revenues of $1billion. The latest company report notes intangible assets of £12.8m.
“The board approved a licensing-led go-to-market strategy positioning Sofant to scale through partnerships with established integrators and manufacturers while retaining ownership of the intellectual property,” said its latest report.
With geopolitical situation across the global uncertain, it is essential that the UK has a sovereign capability in satcom-on-the-move technology. Sofant Technologies, with its research and development base in central Edinburgh, is viewed as a strategically important company.
TECHNOLOGY OF NATIONAL IMPORTANCE
Sofant have developed MEMS, a minute device which is built on a layer of semiconductor wafer. The technology converts mechanical vibration to an electric signal. The company can manipulate the phasing of the radio signal, using a board of tiny phased array antenna, making it stable for long range frequencies,
Chief Executive Officer David Wither, an American-born director who has already achieved a successful exit for a communications technology business, is currently raising capital after receiving funding via the National Security Strategic Investment Fund, set up by the British Business Bank to support technologies which are critical to the nation’s interest.
Wither joined the business ten years ago after the innovation emerged from several PhD scientists at the Scottish Microelectronics Centre at King’s Buildings in Edinburgh.
While the technology has massive possibilities for future applications, including a substantially lighter in-flight communication system for commercial airlines, Wither says he is ‘laser focused’ on the Ka-Band satellite communications market.
“That’s our entry point into the market, so we have to succeed at that. Customers we’ve been talking to over the last few years are super interested in our antenna technology in this frequency band and for applications that would support high bandwidth communications in that frequency band.”
The technology is already being tested on geo-satellite communications in Europe and the United States, and is shown to reduce power consumption by up to 70 per cent.