by Raphael Roettgen
May 2021 saw over US$600 million raised in private fundraising for space-related companies.
More than two-thirds of this amount comes from the announcement of another SPAC merger, this time with quantum key distribution company ArQit (as before, this amount assumes cash in trust, PIPE, no redemptions/repayments, and is before fees).
Close to home, E2MC Ventures was happy to participate in Pangea Aerospace’s round.
Reminder: if you are following the new space sector and are looking for a concise introduction to its trends, main business activities, and possible outlook (and if you happen to speak German!) you may be interested in the new book I recently published with Spacewatch.Global – you can check it out here.
| Company | US$m | Country | Subsector | Investors |
| ArQit | 416.0
(SPAC) |
UK | Other (quantum key distribution) | VirginOrbit, Sumitomo, Heritage Group
|
| Firefly Aerospace | 75.0 | U.S. | Launch | Astera Institute, Canon Ball, DADA Holdings, Raven Ventures Australia, SMS Capital Management, XBTO Group
|
| CAS Space | 31.0 | China | Launch / spacecraft components
|
Yuexiu Financial Holdings, CPE Funds Management, China V Fund, others
|
| Axelspace | 23.6 | Japan | Remote sensing | 31Ventures, Japan Post Investment, Kyocera, Mitsubishi UFJ Capital, SPARX Innovation for the Future, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Investment
|
| Ramon Space | 17.5 | U.S. / Israel | Spacecraft components (computing systems)
|
Deep Insight, Grove Ventures, StageOne Ventures, UMC Capital, WorldQuant Ventures LLC
|
| Agnikul | 11.0 | India | Launch | Aarti Ramamurthy, Abhishek Singhania, Anand Mahindra, Anicut Angel Fund, Artha India Ventures, Balaji Srinivasan, BEENEXT, Globevestor, LetsVenture, LionRock Capital, Mayfield Fund, Naval Ravikant, Nithin Kamath, Pi Ventures, Speciale Invest, Sriram Krishnan
|
| Skyroot | 11.0 | India | Launch | Anil Chalamalasetty, Graph Ventures, Mahesh Kolli, Mukesh Bansal, Neeraj Arora, Solar Group, Sutton Capital, Vedanshu Investments, WorldQuant Ventures LLC
|
| Quasar Satellite Technologies | 9.3 | Australia | Satcomm (equipment) | The Office of the NSW Chief Scientist & Engineer and CSIRO, along with partners Main Sequence, Vocus, Saber Astronautics, Fleet Space Technologies and Clearbox Systems
|
| Maritime Launch Services | 8.7 | Canada | Other (spaceport)
|
PowerOne Capital Markets
|
| Roofr | 4.3 | U.S. | Remote sensing – downstream (roofing)
|
Avidbank, Bullpen Capital, Crosslink Capital |
| Pangea Aerospace | 3.7 | U.S. | Launch / spacecraft components
|
CDTI, Dozen Investments, E2MC Ventures, Inveready, Primo Ventures
|
| Alba Orbital | 3.4 | UK | Spacecraft components (satellites)
|
James Park, Liquid 2 Ventures, Metaplanet Holdings, Soma Capital, Uncommon Denominator, Y Combinator, Zillionize
|
| Latitudo40 | 0.1 | Italy | Remote sensing – downstream (smart cities, agtech)
|
CRiF, Fondazione Golinelli |
| Venture Orbital Systems
|
0.1 | France | Launch | Région Grand Est |
| Bountiful | N/A | U.S. | Remote sensing – downstream (agtech)
|
2.12 Angels |
| Dawn Aerospace | N/A | New Zealand / Netherlands
|
Launch / spacecraft components
|
Movac |
| DDK Positioning | N/A | UK | GNSS | Iridium |
| Horizon Technologies | N/A | UK | Remote sensing (maritime)
|
Maven Capital Partners, Virgin Money |
| Stratodyne | N/A | U.S. | Remote sensing (stratosph. blimps)
|
Alchemist Accelerator |
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.
