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Astroscale Raises a Total of $25 Million in Series C Led By Private Companies
【日本語のプレスリリースは最下段より】
Astroscale, a pioneering space company with a goal of mitigating space debris, completed a Series C round and raised $53 million in total to date. Private companies, ANA Holdings Inc. (ANA – parent company of ALL NIPPON AIRWAYS Co., Ltd.) and OSG Corporation, join recurring venture capital investors (Innovation Network Corporation of Japan, JAFCO Co., Ltd., and Mitsubishi UFJ Capital) alongside new financier aSTART Co., Ltd.
The successful completion of Series C funding positions ASTROSCALE to further expand its international presence, leadership, and competitive standing. ASTROSCALE has recently incorporated an office in the United Kingdom to address global market standards for on-orbit satellite servicing. ASTROSCALE will appoint a new Group Chief Operating Officer (COO), who has played a significant role in the field of space policy in a variety of influential positions regarding international relations on August 1, 2017. The new Group COO will help lead global partnerships and provide strategic direction and management towards further collaboration.
ASTROSCALE has two missions currently under active development: “IDEA OSG 1,” a microsatellite that will monitor sub-millimeter sized debris, and “ELSA-d,” a technology demonstration mission for end-of-life service management of defunct satellites. IDEA OSG 1 and ELSA-d, which are scheduled to be launched in early 2018 and the first half of 2019, respectively, will monitor and remove debris from orbit in order to contribute to a more sustainable space environment.
Approximately 750,000 space debris objects over one centimeter in diameter exist in space, threatening satellites and spacecraft that orbit the Earth. The establishment of services to monitor and track rapidly proliferating sub-millimeter sized debris as well as to remove such objects from orbit is an urgent necessity to mitigate potentially catastrophic damage to space assets.
“Along with existing financial investors, we welcome private companies who support
ASTROSCALE’s vision and missions as investors for the first time in Series C. This funding commitment indicates the growing international awareness that space debris must be confronted in order to safeguard future space use and advance discussions on Space Traffic Management (STM),” said Nobu Okada, ASTROSCALE Founder & CEO. “We are confident that ANA’s specialized knowledge on operational safety and their experience as a leading airline group in the global market will be vital to our business. Additionally, we believe that OSG, a manufacturer of comprehensive cutting tools that operates in 33 countries and supports a diverse set of industries from automobile to aerospace, will not only supply high quality instruments but will also contribute to the mass production of space debris removal satellites.”
About INCJ
INCJ was established in July 2009 as a public-private investment company that provides financial, technological and management support for next-generation businesses. INCJ specifically supports those projects that combine technologies and varied expertise across industries and materialize open innovation. INCJ has the capacity to invest up to JPY2 trillion (approx. US$20 billion). INCJ’s management team is drawn from the private sector with diverse experience in investment, technologies and management. Through its Innovation Network Committee, INCJ assesses investment opportunities that contribute to industrial innovation in Japan in line with criteria set by the government.
For more about INCJ, visit us at http://www.incj.co.jp/
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English press release is available here.
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