Stories about the new players changing the space game.
Kiwi startup Dawn Aerospace announced this week that it’s raised NZ$20M (~$13M) from a group of New Zealand investors to accelerate satellite thruster and spaceplane development. Icehouse Ventures led the round, writing a $10M+ check to the New Zealand startup. Kiwi investors GD1 and Covac also participated in the round. Dawn’s press release announcing the […]
SynMax, a satellite data analytics startup specializing in oil, gas and dark ship monitoring, has raised a $6M seed round from a group of existing customers. Bill Perkins, an energy trader and cofounder of SkyFi, and GeoSol Capital LLC participated in the round. What’s the name of the game for SynMax? The Houston startup is […]
3D metal printing is getting a makeover. Rosotics, a Mesa, AZ-based startup designing a more efficient, large-scale 3D printer optimized for the needs of the aerospace industry, announced this morning the closing of a $750,000 pre-seed round. The round was led by Draper Associates with participation from Correlation Ventures, Vibe Capital, and Sequoia Capital. That’s […]
Gravitics, a startup building human-rated space station modules, has closed a $20M funding round to build StarMax, its first product. Type One Ventures led the round, with participation from Draper Associates, FJ Labs, The Venture Collective, Helios Capital, Giant Step Capital, Gaingels, Spectre, Manhattan West, and Mana Ventures. Introducing Gravitics The Seattle-based startup emerged from […]
Canadian launch startup SpaceRyde has inked a deal with ISILaunch, a launch services company based in the Netherlands, to launch four customer payloads on its balloon-lofted rocket. The SpaceRyde approach: The launch startup is building a rocket that utilizes a stratospheric balloon instead of a first stage. The balloon is meant to lift the main […]
Kayhan Space and Morpheus Space have teamed up to offer their customers automated collision avoidance maneuvers, the two companies announced this morning. By pairing Kayhan’s space traffic management (STM) software, Pathfinder, with Morpheus’ pay-as-you-go propulsion, the companies hope they can make it simpler for satellite operators to prevent space from getting mucked up. “We want […]
Starfish Space has revealed its plans for its first space mission in spring 2023. The mission will demonstrate the startup’s satellite docking technology through its Otter Pup spacecraft, and if successful, it will be the first ever satellite docking using electric propulsion. Starfish 101: The Seattle-based startup has ambitions to enable an in-space economy where […]
Cognitive Space inked a pair of contracts with the Pentagon on Tuesday to automate and improve how quickly information can be shared in space. A first The SBIR Phase I contract with the Space Development Agency is the company’s “first engagement” with the Space Force office focused on quick development cycles and proliferated constellations, Cognitive […]
Despite deteriorating economic conditions on Earth—and plenty of reasons to be bearish on the sector—space tech is set to have a banner year in VC funding. Global venture investment into space startups totals ~$6.2B billion this year, according to a recent PitchBook tally (the data runs through Oct. 24). That’s roughly the same amount as […]
Apex recently announced itself to the world with a $7.5M seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz. The startup seeks to manufacture 100-kilogram class satellite buses that can support ~100 kg of payload. Its first product is called Aries. Last month, Payload caught up with Apex Cofounder and CEO Ian Cinnamon. He previously founded Synapse, a […]
Firefly made history when it became one of only a handful of privately funded players to reach orbit a month ago. Now, the self-described “end-to-end space transportation company” is staffing up to scale production and ensure that October’s successful Alpha launch isn’t a one off. “What we have to do now…is take Alpha to full-rate […]
Wyvern has raised $7M in a seed plus round led by Uncork Capital, bringing the hyperspectral startup’s total financing to ~$15M to date. Previous investors MaC Venture Capital and Y Combinator also participated in this round. MaC led Wyvern’s seed round in October 2021; Wyvern also recently graduated from YC’s W22 batch. The Edmonton, Canada […]
