Startups
Stories about the new players changing the space game.
Venturi Astrolab Emerges from Stealth with a Lunar Rover Prototype
Venturi Astrolab has emerged from stealth with a lunar rover modular concept—and a prototype to boot. The rover, named FLEX (short for Flexible Logistics and Exploration), is designed to transport crew and cargo across the surface of the Moon. If it works there, the company also hopes the rover will be used on human missions to Mars.…
Slingshot Aerospace Raises $25M Series A-1
Slingshot Aerospace, an Austin-based space situational awareness company, has raised a $25M Series A-1, co-led by Draper Associates and ATX Venture Partners. Edison Partners, Embedded Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, and Lockheed Martin Ventures also participated in the round. The company had raised a $9.6M Series A in October 2020, which brings the total Series A…
Astra Explains Failed Launch
A month after Astra’s LV0008 mission failed, the launcher has issued a preliminary postmortem of what went wrong. ICYMI: Astra (NASDAQ:ASTR) attempted its first launch from the Space Coast on Feb. 10. After a few delays, the rocket launched and eventually failed mid-flight. The problem: In a statement issued Monday morning by Andrew Griggs, Astra’s…
Tomorrow.io SPAC Called Off
Pine Technology Acquisition Corp (NASDAQ:PTOC) and Tomorrow.io (née ClimaCell) have called off their SPAC merger, the two said yesterday. $PTOC closed the day down ~1.4%. Announced Dec. 7, the transaction was expected to give the weather forecasting company (and nascent constellation developer) a $1.2B post-deal valuation, while providing Tomorrow.io with up to $420M in gross…
Fleet Space Receives $20M Grant for Manufacturing Hub
The Australian government has awarded Fleet Space Technologies, a South Australia-based satellite developer, a $20M grant to build a “space manufacturing hub.” This new grant supplements an AUS $20M (~$15M) grant the company had already received from the government of South Australia, along with a consortium of space companies and investors. The startup has big…
Launcher Relocates Ukrainian Staff
Launcher has relocated most of its Ukrainian-based staff to Sofia, Bulgaria, the Hawthorne, CA-based company just announced. “I’m distraught by the unprovoked Russian aggression in Ukraine,” Launcher CEO Max Haot wrote in a note. “We are providing all of the necessary support we can think of to our team, partners, and their families and communities…
Exclusive: SkyFi Raises $7.15M
SkyFi, a startup developing a satellite imagery app, has raised a $7.15M round with participation from J2 Ventures, Moving Capital, Capital Factory, and Bill Perkins, along with investments from family and friends. The startup aims to lower the barrier to entry for procuring custom satellite imagery and will allow users to task a satellite. The…
Aerospacelab Raises €40M Series B
Belgium-based geospatial analytics startup Aerospacelab announced it has raised a 40M Euro (~$45.5M) Series B co-led by Airbus Ventures and XAnge. Octave & Miroslaw Klaba, SRIW, Noshaq, BNP Paribas Private Equity, Sambrinvest, and Belaero also participated in the round. Aerospacelab 101: Founded in 2018, Aerospacelab is already no small operation, with two offices and 110+ full time employees. The business centers…
Launcher Hires Tim Berry as Head of Manufacturing
Today, Hawthorne-based Launcher announced the appointment of Tim Berry as head of manufacturing. Berry spent over eight years across town at SpaceX, most recently serving as manager of additive manufacturing. Before that, he led teams integrating SpaceX Dragon Crew and Cargo spacecraft. And from 2013 to 2019, Berry oversaw the production of 90 flight-rated Falcon 9…
Ursa Space Adds One-Click Ordering to SAR Imagery Platform
Taking a page from e-commerce’s playbook, Ursa Space has added one-click ordering to its SAR imagery platform. Processing Ursa’s business, piece by piece: SAR, or synthetic aperture radar, has 24-hour, all-weather, cloud cover-piercing persistent sensing capabilities. The technique can be especially useful for object and change detection. But in its natural and raw form, SAR data is…
E-Space Announces $50M in Seed Funding
On Monday, E-Space came right out of the gate with ambitious mega-constellation aspirations. The startup has raised a $50M seed from Prime Movers Lab, which it says will fully fund two “beta” satellite test batches, launching in March and then the end of 2022. E-Space also claims that mass production is set to begin in…
Launcher Books SpaceX Flights for Orbital Transportation
Launcher has reserved three more missions for Orbiter, its orbital transfer tug, to Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) on future SpaceX Transporter rideshares. The Hawthorne, CA-based space transportation startup’s first Orbiter mission is scheduled to fly on Transporter-6 in October. Last-mile services: The Orbiter vehicle is designed to link up with satellites that have reached generic orbits through rideshare missions…
Wyvern (YC W22) Receives CAD $4M Investment from Sustainable Development Technology Canada
Wyvern has received a CAD $4M (~$3.2M) investment from STDC, just weeks after the Canadian satellite imaging startup announced a $4.5M seed round and its inclusion in Y Combinator’s Winter 22 (W22) batch. STDC, or Sustainable Development Technology Canada, is an “arm’s-length” foundation funded by the Canadian government. STDC’s grant is non-dilutive and tied to…
