Quebec invests $6 million in Charles Siroa’s company

Legault’s government has reinvested $6 million in NorthStar Ciel et Terre, a company whose majority shareholder is Charles Sirois, co-founder of the Alliance Avenir Québec (CAQ).

The government aid is part of a $48 million funding NorthStar announced Thursday’s closing.

The round was led by New York-based Cartesian Capital. Other NorthStar contributors also got involved: the Sirois family, the Rogers family of Toronto, and the government of Luxembourg.

Already $38 million from governments

So far, taxpayers have invested $38 million in NorthStar: $26 million in 2018 (an amount divided equally between Quebec and Ottawa) and $12 million in 2021 (Quebec).

The $6 million the government has just paid NorthStar comes “from a $12 million envelope authorized in July 2021,” said Jean-Pierre Deutuil, a spokesman for the Economy Ministry, on Friday.

NorthStar bills itself as the first commercial company to monitor all near-Earth orbits. It aims to make Montreal a “space watchtower” with data that will allow satellite operators to better manage their fleets and avoid collisions.

If all goes as planned, the first three UK-built NorthStar satellites will be launched this year by Virgin Orbit, founded by British entrepreneur Richard Branson.

Last month, NorthStar and its competitors won contracts from the US Department of Commerce for a pilot project to coordinate traffic in space.

NorthStar employs approximately 50 people in its offices in Montreal, Luxembourg and Virginia.