Raise the roof (4/18/23)

Good morning. We’re hoping for no snow in Colorado Springs this week for Space Symposium. See you at the Golden Bee, where we’ll be collecting bee stickers between meetings. 

Today’s newsletter: 💸 Orbit Fab closes Series A🎧 Pathfinder #0043🔁 On the move

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Orbit Fab Closes $28.5M Series A

Orbit Fab announced yesterday that it closed a $28.5M Series A to accelerate bringing its on-orbit refueling depot tech, i.e., gas stations in space, to market. 8090 Industries led the company’s Series A, with participation from Stride Capital, Industrious Ventures, Lockheed Martin Ventures, Tribe Capital, Good Growth Capital, and Massive Capital Partners.

At the same time, the company said it clinched an additional $21M in defense contracts to demo its on-orbit refueling capabilities, as well as tens of millions more in commercial contracts.

Orbit Fab 101: The Colorado-based company is aiming to enable satellite life extension for a new era of the space industry, where reusability and longevity are king. 

• The company is selling RAFTI, a small fueling port, to customers to incorporate into their spacecraft to enable future refueling.

• Orbit Fab is currently pricing up to 100 kg of hydrazine at $20M.

“If you don't have a reusable rocket, you're not in the rocket industry anymore,” CEO Daniel Faber told Payload. “Similarly, with satellites, now we're seeing that paradigm shift. And if you haven't got a refuelable satellite, and it's not reusable, then pretty soon you're not going to be in the satellite industry.”

The company has so far demonstrated its tech on the ISS, deployed a fuel depot in space, and booked four more launches in the next three years. In the short term, this new batch of funding will speed up deployment of fueling depots and storage infrastructure from VLEO to GEO, as well as enable the company to scale up sales.

“We're no strangers to going quickly,” Faber said. “Now that we are shipping fueling ports, the demand is increasing.”

The contracts: In addition to the funding round, Orbit Fab also announced it has expanded its relationship with US government customers with another $21M across three defense contracts. Those missions include:

1. A SpaceWERX contract to demonstrate proximity and rendezvous ops

2. A DIU award to demonstrate hydrazine refueling with USSF sats in GEO

3. A STRATFI initiative mission for developing docking depots

Growing up quickly: In the past year, the company has doubled its headcount, and currently employs ~60 people. That scaling has been “a direct response to the demand we've seen,” Faber said.

• Over the next year, the company is looking to add 25 people.

Looking ahead: “We've set ourselves up as a fuel supplier,” Faber said. “Our long term vision is to become an industrial gases company in orbit.” 

Sponsored

Meet Millennium 

Millennium Space Systems are an end-to-end small satellite prime contractor, delivering full mission solutions to customers. From design, build, integration and test to mission operations and training, the team enables customers’ missions. The in-house ground software enables system operations, and the autonomy they have developed allows for near lights-out operations.

The company is a prime contractor known for designing and building high-performance small satellites in incredibly fast timelines. Its small satellite constellations work across orbits on national security, science and other missions.

Pathfinder #0043: Space & Defense Private Equity with Kirk Konert

There’s no better time to be at a private equity firm investing in the space industry. At least that’s what Kirk Konert from AE Industrial Partners (AEI) believes. 

PE activity in aerospace and defense reached a record high in 2022, and early indications point to another breakout year in 2023. Several compounding factors, including higher liquidity needs among public space companies, broader macro uncertainty, and a significantly more complex fundraising environment are providing the perfect environment for dealmaking. 

An AE Industrial Primer: AE Industrial Partners is a FL-based PE firm that focuses on aerospace, defense and government services. It launched its first fund in 2014 and has since grown to over $5.5B of assets under management (AUM). AEI has made a number of investments in the space industry, including Sierra Space, Firefly Aerospace, York Space Systems, Redwire, and Terran Orbital.

Our first PE guest: Today, the Pathfinder podcast brings you a conversation with Kirk Konert, a partner at AEI focusing primarily on space and defense. Kirk joined AEI in 2014 just as the firm was institutionalizing and scaling its investment offering. Before AEI, Kirk worked at Sun Capital Partners, a private equity firm specializing in leveraged buyouts, and at Wells Fargo’s Industrials Group.

Kirk joins us on the show today to discuss:

• The history of AEI and the evolution of its strategy

• Why private equity is a compelling tool in this market

• What Kirk looks for in an investment

• AEI’s venture arm

• Portfolio company synergies

• Fundraising predictions for the industry

• And much more…

Where to find Pathfinder #0043?

Listen on Apple, Spotify, or desktop or watch on YouTube!

In Other News

• Starship’s first orbital test flight scrubbed at T-40 seconds. SpaceX is targeting Thursday morning (yep, 4/20) for its next attempt.

• ClearSpace, a European active debris removal company, announced that it has expanded to the US.

• Astroscale opened an office in Denver.

• SpaceX has pushed back the Falcon Heavy launch to April 26. 

• The UK Space Agency is launching a £20M fund to foster international partnerships.

The View from Space

JUICE, ESA's mission to probe Jupiter's icy moons, snaps a selfie just hours after its April 14 launch.