Finance

Magdrive, a UK space tech startup, has successfully raised $10.5 million in seed funding. The round was lead by the VC Redalpine. Balerion, Alumni Ventures, Outsized Ventures, 7percent, and Entrepreneur First also contributed to the round. And the investment will be used to drive R&D, build a manufacturing facility in the UK, and establish a US office. Magdrive Based in ...

ATMOS has secured €13.1 million in funding from the EU’s European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator programme in order to develop its PHOENIX 2 space capsule. The EIC Accelerator is part of the European Union’s wider Horizon Europe framework. It aims to target companies developing “high-impact innovations” with the potential to help create new markets. In ATMOS’s case, it’s innovation around ...

Urban Sky, which describes itself as “a stratospheric platform company”, has closed a $30 million Series B investment round for its rapidly deployable Microballoon technology. The funding will be used to develop and commercialise its products for using the stratosphere tactically for military and commercial customers. The payloads of the balloons enable high-resolution, persistent data monitoring above wide areas. To ...

The UK Space Agency (UKSA) has backed a Welsh communications integration specialist, Excelerate, with a £6 million award to develop a multi-orbit, multi-beam satellite antenna. Based in Cardiff, Excelerate Technology will receive the funding for work on a Mobility and Autonomy Market User Terminal (MAMUT). This is designed to allow users to choose an operator, and orbit, via an app. ...

AST SpaceMobile, which aims to build a space-based cellular broadband network accessible by everyday smartphones, has announced $460m of debt funding. It estimates that the net proceeds from the offering will be approximately $388 million. It says the strengthening of its balance sheet will help accelerate its manufacturing plans. These are for the production and launch of its BlueBird satellite ...

The UK government has announced £20 million of funding to help to fund the construction and launch of the first orbital rocket both manufactured in the UK and launched from British soil. This is for Orbex and its re-usable Prime rocket, from the Saxavord Spaceport in the Shetland Islands. The company now expects to launch the first Prime rocket “towards ...

Stoke Space, which is looking to build the world’s first 100% reusable medium-lift rocket, has raised $260 million in new Series C investment. It brings the company’s total funding to $480 million. Stoke says it will use the latest backing to complete the development of its Nova launch vehicle. It will also improve its private test facility and manufacturing headquarters, ...

Loft Orbital, the space-as-a-service company, announces that its Series C investment round has raised $170m. The funding round was led by Tikehau Capital with Axial Partners as a co-lead. Joining them were new investors Temasek, Supernova, Tribeca Venture Partners, Starburst VC, Arkenstone Partners, and GSBackers. And existing investors involved included Bpifrance, Foundation Capital, and Uncork Capital. “This round gives us ...

Iceye – the Finnish specialist in satellite-based SAR imagery (Synthetic Aperture Radar) – has raised a further $65 million in funding. This brings the total raised, in 2024 alone, to $158 million. Since its founding, in 2014 as a spinoff from Aalto University, Iceye has raised over $500 million. The company says the money will help address growing demand for ...

ION-X, the electrospray propulsion specialist, has raised €13 million in a funding round. It will enable the company to industrialise the production of its ion thrusters. The company now aims to produce 200 ion thrusters per year – which manoeuvre small satellites – by 2028. This will be done at its future production facility in the Île-de-France region. ION-X The ...