Dallas-based Balerion Space Ventures has surpassed its $200M target for its second fund, the firm announced Thursday. Fund II—which remains open—is more than five times the size of the firm’s debut fund, which came in at just under $40M.
Balerion had closed ~$90M as of May, according to Venture Capital Journal. Cofounder and General Partner Daniel Kleinmann chalked up the momentum since then to portfolio companies hitting milestones and raising up-rounds—which he said resonated with LPs.
The firm is also holding back capital for follow-on rounds. “These are really capital-intensive businesses,” Kleinmann told Payload. “Having the ability to reserve capital to continue supporting these businesses as they hit major technical, commercial, government milestones is really important to us.”
Power play: Balerion was built on the idea that the infrastructure and supply chain underpinning the space economy weren’t mature enough to scale commercial space, Kleinmann said. Fund II has backed 15 companies so far, including Vast, Relativity Space, and Dawn Aerospace.
The fund is also looking beyond space, stretching into nuclear and fusion with portfolio companies such as Valar Atomics and Commonwealth Fusion Systems.
“Power is at the bottom of all tech stacks,” Kleinmann said. “In space, you don’t really have a grid where you can just plug in.”
Global ambitions: Balerion also tapped former NASA Chief Technologist A.C. Charania—previously an advisor to the firm—as managing director to lead global operations. Kleinmann named India, Japan, Israel, Australia, New Zealand, and Europe as markets of interest.
“A lot of the characteristics we’ve seen domestically around defense-budget increases and the need to reshore national-security capabilities, we’re seeing that happen globally,” Kleinmann said. “We have a renewed focus on the global market and the investment opportunity outside the US, and A.C. is really championing that for us.”
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Washington Harbour Partners and Bison Ventures led the round, which included participation from MetaVC Partners, MYDA Advisors, Entrada Ventures, Aurelia Foundry, and Fitz Gate Ventures.
Eye on the ball: The new capital will fund the production of Kapta’s low-cost moving target indication (MTI) radar payloads in support of classified MTI missions the company secured this year.
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