1. Home
  2. Discover
  3. Startup
  4. The Space Investor

The Space Investor - 🚀 RIP Virgin Orbit

View this email in your browser
The Space Scoop
Week Ended 05.26.2023
Happy Friday! And Happy Memorial Day Weekend to our US-based readers! The space earnings cycle has ended, five startups raised $85M+ in various funding rounds, and Virgin Orbit is winding down after selling itself in pieces to various competitors. Lets dive in.

Market Max-Q

Top Stories
1) Virgin Orbit ($VORBQ) officially sold its assets via bankruptcy auction for ~$36M and will wind down / cease operations.
  • Rocket Lab ($RKLB) won their Long Beach, CA headquarters, along with manufacturing machinery to accelerate production of Neutron rocket for $16.1M
     
  • Stratolaunch won the modified Boeing 747 Cosmic Girl carrier craft for $17M
     
  • Launcher won the Mojave launch site lease and equipment for $2.7M 
     
2) AST SpaceMobile ($ASTS) is set to join the Russell 2000 and 3000 indexes.
  • The space-based cellular broadband provider is set to join the small cap and broader market indexes after conclusion of this years annual rebalance, which will be effective after US market open on June 26.
     
  • “Being added to the Russell 3000 index is an important milestone for AST SpaceMobile and sign of maturity as we have now been a public company for over two years,” said the CFO of ASTS. “We anticipate inclusion in this index to improve liquidity and broaden exposure for our company.”
     
3) Terran Orbital ($LLAP) was double downgraded by Bank of America Securities.
  • The bank, which had Terran at a 'Buy' rating last, adjusted its outlook to 'Underperform' with a price target of $1.35 from $7 per share.
     
  • Analyst Ronald Epstein and team see significant risk associated to LLAP's ramp on the Rivada Space Networks contract along with overall revenue diversity.
     
  • "In our view, Rivada is still largely unknown customer and we remain concerned around the durability of its growth. Additionally, while management appears confident in the company ability to raise capital, we remain skeptical around the market's appetite. With that said, the company may be able to attract strategic investment."
     
  • Shares fell -4.0% on Friday and were down -21.7% for the week.

In Other News
SkyFi Raises $7M Seed Round (TechCrunch)
The on-demand, high-res satellite image and video provider raised the capital from Balerion Space Ventures. Existing investors J2 Ventures and Moving Capital, and Bill Perkins also participated.

TRL11 Raises $3M Pre-Seed Round (Payload)
Boost.VC led the round in the space video production and monitoring startup. Other participants included Wonder VC, Anorak, Geek Ventures, Space Cadets, and several angel investors.

Fleet Space Raises AU$50M Series C Round (Company)
The advanced nanosatellite communications startup's "heavily" oversubscribed round brings its valuation to AU$350M. The new funding is led by Blackbird VC. Grok Ventures, Alumni Ventures and Hostplus also participated in the round.

SatelliteVu Raises £12.7M Series A2 Round (SkyNews)
The London-based thermal imaging startup's funding round was led by Molten Ventures and included backing from existing investors Lockheed Martin ($LMT), Seraphim Space Investment Trust ($SSIT), and Earth Sciences Foundation.

GITAI Raises ¥4B Funding (SpaceNews)
The Japanese space robotics startup raised ¥4B (or $29M) to accelerate technology development and its US expansion plans. Global Brain led the round, which is an extension of a $17M 2021 Series B.

Chart of the Week
Virgin Orbit: From a $3B SPAC to bankruptcy auction sale, VO is officially winding down. Our first public space market casualty..

Links
• Viasat’s ($VSAT) Acquisition of Inmarsat Receives FCC Approval

• Iridium ($IRDM) Adds to Constellation Resilience With Launch of Spare Satellites

• Spire ($SPIR) and BlackSky ($BKSY) Partner To Provide AI-Driven Maritime Custody Service

• Planet ($PL) Partners with UAE Space Agency for Climate Resilience

• Terran Orbital ($LLAP) Announces $37.1M Registered Direct Offering

• Virgin Galactic ($SPCE) Completes Successful #Unity25 Spaceflight

• Momentus ($MNTS) To Deliver Lunasonde Technology Demonstration Payload to Orbit

• Rocket Lab ($RKLB) Launches Second Batch of TROPICS Satellites for NASA

• Orbit Fab Selects Impulse Space for In-Space Refueling Demo

Opinion
• SpaceX Investment in Starship Approaches $5 Billion

• Cestrian Capital Research Hosts $SPIR CEO

• Analyzing Rocket Lab’s ($RKLB) Promising Programs, Financial Outlook and Valuation

• Redwire ($RDW) Is on Track To Become Profitable

• Planet ($PL): Massive SBCs and Profitability Still Far Away

Earnings Calendar
• $PL: June 8 - After Market Close

*Company confirmed dates only.
Forward Forward
Questions? Feedback? Just 'Reply' to this email.
Copyright © 2023

TheSpaceInvestor
400 E 20th St
New York, NY 10009-8101

Add us to your address book!

Unsubscribe
Disclaimer: The Space Investor ("TSI") does not provide financial advice. All content is for informational purposes only and is not a solicitation to buy or sell any assets. TSI is not a registered investment, legal, or tax advisor or a broker/dealer.

Key phrases

Mojave launch site lease spacebased cellular broadband provider The Space Scoop Week Rivada Space Networks contract happy Memorial Day Weekend space earnings cycle Analyst Ronald Epstein overall revenue diversity various funding rounds years annual rebalance RIP Virgin Orbit broader market indexes

Older messages

🚀 Virgin Orbit's $17M Bid

Friday, May 19, 2023

Plus $ASTS, $ASTR, $LLAP, $SIDU and $VSAT earnings! View this email in your browser The Space Scoop Week Ended 05.19.2023 Happy Friday! Q1 space earnings continued along with news out of Virgin Orbit

🚀 Q1'23 Space Earnings

Friday, May 12, 2023

$VORB bankruptcy sale update, $SPCE returning to the skies, $VSAT's Inmarsat acquisition approved and more! View this email in your browser The Space Scoop Week Ended 05.12.2023 Happy Friday! This

🚀 Starship's $2 Billion Cost

Friday, May 5, 2023

Maxar ($MAXR) acquisition completed, NUVIEW emerges from stealth, more Q1'23 earnings and more! View this email in your browser The Space Scoop Week Ended 05.05.2023 Happy Friday! It was a quiet

🚀 ASTS Makes History

Saturday, April 29, 2023

Q1 2023 Space earnings are underway, Astroscale secures ¥3 billion and more! View this email in your browser The Space Scoop Week Ended 04.28.2023 Happy Friday! Q1 Space earnings kicked off this week

🚀 Starship's Debut

Friday, April 21, 2023

$LMT and $IRDM kickoff Q1'23 earnings, $RKLB introduces hypersonic test flights, Orbit Fab raises $28.5M Series A and more! View this email in your browser The Space Scoop Week Ended 04.21.2023

You Might Also Like

🍰 Two Logo Sites Making $250k per MONTH??

Monday, April 29, 2024

Google search sucks, productivity mental models, how one bootstrapped entrepreneur is making $250k/mo with logos, and more! ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

Massive Acquisitions in Software Startups

Monday, April 29, 2024

Tomasz Tunguz Venture Capitalist If you were forwarded this newsletter, and you'd like to receive it in the future, subscribe here.​ ​Massive Acquisitions in Software Startups​ What drives the

Baxter, PocketPlan, OneNode, Canyon, Prosperly, and more

Monday, April 29, 2024

so you can unsubscribe from & clean out marketing emails BetaList BetaList Daily Prosperly Collect Google reviews and referrals on autopilot Email Tracker Free Email Tracker for Gmail Baxter so you

join me: Digital Health in Q1’24

Monday, April 29, 2024

data on deals, funding, mega-rounds, unicorns, investors and more Hi there, Anjalika here, Intelligence Analyst at CB Insights. Wanted to personally invite you to this digital health webinar tomorrow.

🦄 Global payments made instant

Monday, April 29, 2024

Mural makes it easy to manage payments and invoices for employees, contractors, and vendors worldwide. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

Early bird pricing ends tonight. Have you subscribed?

Monday, April 29, 2024

Subscribe by midnight ET to get The Generalist's premium newsletter for $19/month. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏

72 hours left to confirm your free seat

Monday, April 29, 2024

don't miss this , In just 72 hours from now, you're going to be missing your FREE spot in the 4-week E-commerce Kickstarter Coaching Program when it goes LIVE. Unless you take action now. At

📂 Guerrilla tactics leverage doing things that don’t scale (until they do)

Monday, April 29, 2024

​ ​ ​ ​ Today's newsletter is proudly supported by Dofollow 🎉 In an era where content creation is easier than ever, content authority is the key to ranking high and maximizing SEO. And despite what

Investor relations going sour?

Monday, April 29, 2024

We dive into the results of our latest survey, IBM goes to court and unexpected UK royalty in Dubai. View in browser ITA We make future final Good morning there, Wow, founders are going through a

📈 What’s getting funded now

Sunday, April 28, 2024

The Lightcone crew dives into the trends they're seeing from the latest YC batch. | This Week at YC April 28th, 2024 What a week! The deadline* for Summer 2024 applications was on Monday, which