by Raphael Roettgen
September saw over US$300 million of space financing rounds, including blockbuster rounds for Chinese launcher LandSpace and the Finnish SAR constellation ICEYE. Notably absent this month were large rounds for satellite communications companies, like those we have seen in many previous months.
On the deal front, one transaction of note was the acquisition, by Intelsat, of the commercial aviation business of inflight connectivity provider Gogo, for US$400 million.
| Company | US$m | Country | Subsector | Investors |
| LandSpace | 175.6 | China | Launch |
Country Garden, Gopher Asset Management, Lightspeed China Partners, Matrix Partners, National SME Development Fund, Sequoia Capital
|
| ICEYE | 87.0 | Finland | Remote sensing (SAR) | DNX Ventures, Draper Associates, Draper Esprit, European Investment Fund, NewSpace Capital, OTB Ventures, Promus Ventures, Seraphim Capital, Space Angels, Tesi, The Luxembourg Future Fund, True Ventures
|
| GHGSat | 30.0 | Canada | Remote sensing (emissions) | Business Development Bank of Canada, FTQ, Investissement Quebec, OGCI Climate Investments, Schlumberger, Space Angels
|
| PLD Space | 8.3
|
Spain | Launch | Arcano
|
| Cloud Agronomics | 6.0
|
U.S. | Remote sensing – downstream (agri)
|
SineWave
|
| QuadSAT | 2.4 | Denmark | Satcomm (testing) | Helge Munk, Seraphim Capital, Vaekstfonden
|
| Sugarhouse Aerospace | 0.2 | U.S. | Launch (suborbital) | not disclosed
|
| Progesja Space | 0.05 | Poland. | Spacecraft components (prop.)
|
Space3AC
|
| LiveEO | N/A | Germany | Remote sensing – downstream (infrastsructure)
|
Andrew Kuper, DvH Ventures |
| Lumi Space | N/A | U.K. | Spacecraft components (photonics)
|
UK Space Agency (grant) |
| Near Space Labs | N/A | U.S. | Remote sensing
(strat. balloons)
|
CivStart
|
| OTB Space Program 1
|
N/A | Poland | Venture Capital
|
EIF |
| Stratodyne | N/A | U.S. | Remote sensing (strat. balloons)
|
TSVC
|
Raphael Roettgen provides financial advice to and invests proprietary capital in space companies as a managing director and founder of E2MC. He also advises institutional investors and governments on space. Previously, Raphael has held senior roles at global investment banks and hedge funds and was also a fintech entrepreneur in Brazil. He holds degrees in finance from Wharton, machine learning from PUC-Rio and space studies from the International Space University, as well as the CFA and FRM charters.
