ispace Completes Series B Funding Round Announces New Lunar Business Concept (Video Available)
ispace, a space venture company focused on space resource exploration and development, held an online event on August 20 to announce its Series B funding round and a new lunar business concept.
ispace is a space venture company developing the "HAKUTO-R" private lunar exploration program through partnerships and payload services (lunar transportation services). With this Series B funding round raising ¥3 billion, the company's total cumulative funding, including Series A, has reached ¥13.55 billion. (Image = ©ispace)
At the outset, CEO Takeshi Hakamada stated, "While many industries have been forced to shift course during the COVID-19 pandemic, the space industry has steadily advanced, carving out the future. I believe this momentum will expand beyond the national level, involving the private sector and growing across the entire industry." With the support of four investors in this Series B funding round—Incubate Fund, Space Frontier Fund, Takasago Thermal Engineering, and Mitsui Marine & Fire Insurance—we aim to accelerate the creation of space resource development and the industrialization of space utilization by Japanese private companies."
Incubate Fund is a venture capital firm that has supported the company since its seed stage. Space Frontier Fund is a space-specialized fund that began operations this May, with its investment in HAKUTO-R being its first deal. Takasago Thermal Engineering and Mitsui Marine & Fire Insurance are already corporate partners of "HAKUTO-R." They are respectively advancing studies for demonstrating water electrolysis technology on the moon and developing "lunar insurance" to support risks in lunar business.
Using the funds raised this time, the company will execute the final development of the lander (lunar lander) for Mission 1, scheduled for 2022; the advance development of the lander for Mission 2 in 2023; and further advance development anticipating the scaling up of landers for 2024 and beyond.
Kazuto Kojima, President of Takasago Thermal Engineering, stated, "The 'space industry' is now beginning to be seen as a future growth industry that anyone can challenge. We share the same vision as ispace. Respecting each other's people, technology, and culture, and pooling our wisdom, we aim to advance development centered on thermal utilization and water electrolysis technologies. We want to challenge ourselves to create an industry that contributes to society on a cosmic scale."
On the same day, alongside the funding announcement, the company unveiled "Blueprint Moon," a new vision for lunar development. "Blueprint Moon" is a concept designed to provide a beneficial blueprint for companies newly entering the lunar business. It plans to collect and process lunar data (including image data, environmental data, telemetry, and resource information) and provide it to customers (anticipated to include government space agencies, universities, research institutions, and private companies) to support lunar development.
In June 2020, the government approved a new "Basic Space Plan" outlining its space policy for the next decade. This plan promotes private sector participation in space development, previously government-led, and the expansion of space business, explicitly stating the goal of doubling the domestic space industry market size by the 2030s.
Representative Hakamada commented, "ispace will continue to lead the expansion of the private space industry, extend humanity's living sphere into space, and aim for a sustainable world."
ispace Official Website: https://ispace-inc.com/jpn/
Related past article: https://dentsu-ho.com/articles/6801
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