BusinessDebrisEquitiesVC/PE

Benchmark Clinches $33M, Launches Autopilot for Satellites

Benchmark Space Systems, the Burlington, VT-based propulsion systems provider, is keeping busy. This week, the company announced a $33M Series B funding round, unveiled new digs, and debuted a brand-new satellite autopilot product called SmartAIM. Benchmark’s Series B Benchmark announced this morning that it’s closed a $33M Series B to speed up the process of […]

BusinessEquitiesVC/PE

Space DOTS Raises $1.5M Pre-Seed

Space DOTS, a UK-based advanced materials testing startup, wants to revolutionize the way the aerospace industry qualifies new materials for use in space.  The company announced the closing of a $1.5M pre-seed round this morning to build out its mini on-orbit laboratory tech. Boost VC, Sie Ventures, 7Percent Ventures, Blue Wire Capital, and angel investors […]

BusinessEquitiesVC/PE

Exclusive: Leaf Space Closes €20M Series B

Leaf Space, an Italian ground-segment-as-a-service provider, has closed a €20M ($22.1M) Series B as well as an additional €15M ($16.6M) in venture debt through a European Investment Bank loan.  Leaf Space 101 CEO Jonata Puglia and CSO Giovanni Pandolfi founded the company in 2014 to provide an end-to-end, easy-to-use solution for satellite operators to send […]

AnalysisBusinessVC/PE

Seraphim Releases Space Index

Seraphim, a leading space VC firm HQ’d in the UK, has released its yearly index on funding and acquisition activity across the space industry. Seraphim’s tracking data shows signs that investment activity is bouncing back from the economic woes and restrained capital markets of last year. Deals, deals, deals: The trailing twelve months (TTM) analysis […]

BusinessVC/PE

Exclusive: Talde Private Equity Leaps Into Space With AVS Investment

A small engineering firm from the Basque region of Spain nabbed an investment from Talde as it quietly lays the groundwork for a global space business empire. Added Value Solutions (AVS) develops complex equipment for industries such as fusion, particle accelerators, and space. On the heels of a significant investment in the firm, CEO Miguel […]

StartupsVC/PE

Euroconsult’s new space investment tracker

Euroconsult, a strategy and market intelligence firm specializing in the space sector, has launched a new space investment tracker tool: its Financing & Transactions Database. The subscription-based platform offers a detailed monthly dashboard, providing up-to-date financial insights on private space investment activities. These include publicly disclosed funding operations like equity investments, debt operations, IPOs, SPAC […]

StartupsVC/PE

Fleet Raises $33M to Expand its Mineral Exploration Tech

Fleet raked in $33M in a Series C round yesterday to build out its satellite-enabled mineral exploration solution. Blackbird led the funding round, which valued the startup at $229M.  Down Undah: Headquartered in South Australia, Fleet is hyper-focused on serving one of the region’s largest economies, resource mining. The company leverages its seven-nanosatellite LEO constellation […]

InternationalVC/PE

UK Sees Payoff in Space Investment

Years of government investment in the UK’s commercial space sector are paying off.  The UK received 17% of global space private capital since 2015, according to a report released Tuesday from the UK Space Agency and PwC. That makes it the second most attractive place for private sector space investment behind the US, and the […]

VC/PE

VC Investment in the Space Industry Sees Lowest Numbers Since 2021

VCs invested $310.7M in the US space industry during the first quarter of 2023, according to new Pitchbook data. It’s the lowest amount since Q3 of 2021, but the 24 deals closed in the quarter is comparable to last quarter.  The biggest deals ranged across different segments of the industry from launch to manufacturing. These […]

OSAMStartupsVC/PE

Orbit Fab Closes $28.5M Series A

Orbit Fab announced yesterday that it closed a $28.5M Series A to accelerate bringing its on-orbit refueling depot tech, i.e., gas stations in space, to market. 8090 Industries led the company’s Series A, with participation from Stride Capital, Industrious Ventures, Lockheed Martin Ventures, Tribe Capital, Good Growth Capital, and Massive Capital Partners. At the same […]

OSAMStartupsVC/PE

Starfish Space Raises $14M Series A

Starfish Space, a Seattle-based startup developing satellite servicing spacecraft, has raised a $14M Series A round led by Munich Re Ventures. Toyota Ventures also participated in the round, along with existing investors PSL Ventures, NFX, and MaC VC. Servicing for cheap: Starfish has a grand vision of a future economy in Earth orbit where satellites […]

EquitiesLaunchMilitaryRocketsVC/PE

Who Will Buy ULA? What Payload Readers Say

United Launch Alliance, a joint venture formed in 2006, may soon have a new corporate home. That’s because co-owners Boeing ($BA) and Lockheed Martin ($LMT) are reportedly putting ULA up for sale, according to a blockbuster story last week from Ars Technica’s Eric Berger.  Morgan Stanley and Bain were hired to facilitate the transaction, which […]