NewSpace Capital, the Luxembourg-based private equity firm, announced a $15M investment in Los Angeles’ K2 Space today to help the satellite manufacturer build multi-orbit-capable sats for commercial and defense missions.
The one-off investment broadens the geographic mix of the private equity firm’s portfolio, which has to date focused mostly on European space companies such as ICEYE, Cailabs, and FibreCoat.
The partnership will also allow K2 to serve more commercial and government customers on the European continent, at a time when demand is booming for satellites with more maneuverability and resilience.
Raising the bar: K2 has locked in $195M in funding without even flying an orbital mission. Its first customer mission, Gravitas, is planned for next year.
K2 has used these funds to ramp up its production capacity, and recently opened a 180,000 sq. ft. facility in California. There, it expects to produce 100 of its Mega Class sats per year.
K2’s focus is on building satellites to withstand the extreme radiation of higher orbits, at an accessible price point of $15M per satellite bus. Each of K2’s buses comes equipped with a 20 kW Hall-effect thruster that can raise a satellite with 1 ton of payload capacity from LEO to MEO in under 90 days.
The platform makes it possible for operators to launch their sats on cheaper rideshare missions to LEO, and then raise their orbits to MEO without sacrificing too much fuel (as about 35% of the sat’s total fuel is used in the orbit raise).
With the investment, NewSpace Capital is betting that K2 can hit all of its milestones on its first flight next year, and begin turning investment into revenue.
“K2 Space is redefining the satellite bus industry for higher-orbit applications,” Martin Halliwell, NewSpace Capital partner and former CTO of SES, said in a statement. “The need for what they’re offering will only grow as the space economy expands.”
Karan Kunjur, K2’s cofounder and CEO, told Payload that each of the payloads on its debut Gravitas mission can be tied back to customers contemplating constellations 10 to 15 satellites strong. If the mission goes well, he added, it could open the door for hundreds of millions in revenue in the short term.
