Kepler Communications has secured $5m in seed funding for its satellite network and service ambitions. The Toronto-based startup is focused on IoT use-cases, but is several years from full scale commercial launch. Kepler’s pilot program is scheduled for Q4 2017, and conforms to the core tenet of the satellite industry – that laying the groundwork for a deployment takes a long time. Kepler is basing its business model around its belief that over the next five years, nearly six million devices will require an M2M satellite connection – citing examples ranging from strain gauges on bridges, soil acidity sensors, seismic monitors, and shipping containers. It is aiming to build a satellite platform that its a hundred times cheaper, partly by…