Stories about how space companies are raising money to take on next-gen missions.
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Starfish Space, a Seattle-based startup developing satellite servicing spacecraft, has raised a $14M Series A round led by Munich Re Ventures. Toyota Ventures also participated in the round, along with existing investors PSL Ventures, NFX, and MaC VC. Servicing for cheap: Starfish has a grand vision of a future economy in Earth orbit where satellites […]
United Launch Alliance, a joint venture formed in 2006, may soon have a new corporate home. That’s because co-owners Boeing ($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 […]
Astroscale, a Japanese startup designing orbital debris removal and on-orbit servicing technology, announced Sunday that it has closed a $76M Series G round to accelerate its growth and development. The round, especially notable given the current state of private markets, brings Astroscale’s total funding to date to $376M. The company raised the Series G entirely […]
Jiga, a Y Combinator W21 alum operating a manufacturing procurement platform, closed a $4.1M funding round led by Symbol. “The aerospace industry is facing a growing demand for new and innovative products, and it’s crucial that companies have quick access to the right parts and materials to meet this demand,” Jiga CEO Adar Hay told […]
Floodbase, a Brooklyn, NY-based startup that operates an intelligence engine to help assess and insure flood risk, announced a major rebrand along with a $12M Series A. Lowercarbon Capital led the funding round, with participation from Collaborative Fund, Floating Point and Vidavo. Who’s Floodbase? The artist formerly known as Cloud to Street is working to […]
Quindar, a startup building a web app for satellite owners to design, test, and operate their constellations with little to no human intervention, announced this morning the closing of a $2.5M seed round raised from Y Combinator, FCVC, Soma Capital, and Liquid 2 Ventures. “One of the value propositions of being an aerospace company with […]
Last week, Payload cofounder Mo Islam had the pleasure of sitting down with three top VCs: Anton Brevde from Prime Movers Lab, Michelle Volz from a16z, and Shahin Farschi from Lux Capital. The hour-long conversation covered the state of the economy, the fundraising environment for space companies, and predictions for 2023. We’ve curated some of […]
Space Capital has released its final quarterly report on the 2022 investing landscape. It was a tough year for fundraising, as the froth drained from the free-flowing capital markets of years past. Though the space industry saw receding levels of capital deployment, the report’s authors remain optimistic about the sector’s ability to bounce back. 2022 […]
Stell, a startup building an efficient workflow platform for the aerospace industry, announced this morning the closing of a $3.1M pre-seed round led by Wischoff Ventures and Third Prime VC. The comms problem: When it comes to communicating the deeply complex, technical information critical to aerospace engineering, a lot can get lost in translation. “The […]
