Bill Gates Part of $12 Million Round for Satellite Mobile Broadband Start-Up

Bill Gates is part of a $12 million investment round in Kymeta, a company that aims to offer users satellite broadband access on the go. Kymeta is a spinout from Intellectual Ventures, the Nathan Myhrvold-run company best known for its irksome strategy of amassing patents and then looking to collect from companies whose products make use of the patents. The Redmond (WA) -based company is the second spinout for Intellectual Ventures, preceded by TerraPower, which aims to build a new kind of nuclear reactor. Other backers of Kymeta include Liberty Global and Lux Capital. Kymeta’s technology uses something called “metamaterials,” artificial materials that can manipulate electromagnetic radiation that can steer a radio signal toward a satellite, thereby creating a continuous broadband link.