29 Dec, 2020
Cumulative total funding amounts to approximately $130 million (USD)
Today, ispace, inc. (ispace) announced that it raised an additional approximately $4.8 million (USD)[i] from SMBC Nikko Securities Co., Ltd. as part of an extension round of the lunar exploration company’s Series B funding, following its initial Series B funding announced on August 20, 2020.
With this additional financing, the total amount of funding raised by ispace to date is approximately $129.6 million (USD)[ii], including its Seed funding, approximately $94.5 million (USD)[iii] in its Series A round, and approximately $33.1 million (USD)[iv] in its Series B round (including this extension round). Based on the funds raised this time, ispace plans to steadily make up-front development investments for its lunar lander to be used in its Mission 2 scheduled to launch in 2023[v], and further up-front development investments with a view to increasing the size of its lander after 2024[vi].
SMBC Nikko Securities Co., Ltd., which recently joined as a Corporate Partner of ispace’s HAKUTO-R program, is one of the core affiliates of the SMBC Group – one of Japan’s leading financial groups. SMBC Nikko Securities Co., Ltd. goes beyond the conventional financial functions and aims to expand the base of the space market with the support of its network and various other business experiences. Together, we aim to build a new industry between the Earth and the Moon.
ispace, inc. (https://ispace-inc.com/)
ispace is a lunar exploration company with over 100 staff and offices in Japan, Europe and the United States. Founded in 2010, ispace managed Team HAKUTO, one of the 5 finalists in the Google Lunar XPRIZE competition. The company has raised a cumulative total investment of approximately $129.6 million (USD)[vii] in investment. The funding is being used to build a small commercial lunar lander, which aims to provide a high-frequency, low-cost delivery service to the Moon. Aspiring to be a gateway for the private sector to bring their business to the Moon, ispace has also launched a lunar data business concept to support companies with lunar market entry. ispace is part of a team led by Draper, which was selected by NASA to compete in its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) Program, and ispace Europe was selected by ESA to be part of the Science Team for PROSPECT, a program which seeks to extract water on the Moon.
HAKUTO-R (https://ispace-inc.com/hakuto-r/)
HAKUTO-R is a multinational commercial lunar exploration program operated by ispace. It includes ispace’s first two lunar missions: Mission 1, a soft lunar landing planned to launch in 2022[viii], and Mission 2, a lunar landing and deployment of a rover planned to launch in 2023[ix]. For both missions, the HAKUTO-R lander is planned to launch on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. The program aspires to lay the groundwork for high-frequency lunar transportation.
###
[i] Actual figure is JPY 500 million; JPY to USD conversion provided for familiarity, using FX rate for the past 1-month average of TTM rate as of 23rd Dec 2020.
[ii] Actual figure is JPY 14.05 billion; JPY to USD conversion provided for familiarity, using FX rate for a mixture of various FX rate as written below.
[iii] Actual figure is JPY 10.35 billion; JPY to USD conversion provided for familiarity, using FX rate for the past 1-month average of TTM rate as of 15th February 2018.
[iv] Actual figure is JPY 3.5 billion; JPY to USD conversion provided for familiarity, using FX rate for the past 1-month average of TTM rate as of 17th August and 23rd December 2020.
[v] Planned launch schedule as of December 2020.
[vi] Plan as of December 2020.
[vii] Actual figure is JPY 14.05 billion; JPY to USD conversion provided for familiarity, using FX rate for the said mixture of various FX rate.
[viii] Planned launch schedule as of December 2020.
[ix] Planned launch schedule as of December 2020.