April Fundraising Activity
April 5 – Japanese smallsat manufacturer and Earth observation business Axelspace Corporation announced that it raised an undisclosed amount of new funding from Space Compass Corporation, Development Bank of Japan, Tokio Marine Holdings and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital.
April 6 – True Anomaly, Inc., a space security startup that is developing an autonomous orbital vehicle for space object data collection, emerged from stealth, announcing that it has raised $30m in funding from Eclipse Ventures, Riot Ventures, Champion Hill Ventures and Space.VC, among other investors.
April 13 – Kepler Communications Inc. announced that it raised $92m in a Series C funding round led by IA Ventures, with plans to use the new capital for development of an optical data relay system to complement its radio frequency network.
April 17 – On-orbit refueling company Orbit Fab, Inc. announced that it raised $28.5m in a Series A funding round led by 8090 Industries, which it plans to use for deployment of its multi-orbit fuel delivery and storage infrastructure.
Thuraya Makes Investment in Astrocast
On April 3, Thuraya Telecommunications Co (Thuraya), a subsidiary of Al Yah Satellite Communications Co PJSC, and Astrocast S.A. (Astrocast) announced that they entered into an agreement whereby Thuraya will make an investment in Astrocast through a $17.5m convertible loan, marking Thuraya’s first investment in a low-Earth orbit constellation.
Read more related news in Space Business Review April 2023.
