Awards were presented to the five most promising start-ups, as selected by an independent jury, during the FinSpace cocktail reception at the annual Euroconsult Summit for Satellite Financing which brings together the leading decision makers of the satellite-enabled business sector — FinSpace is supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), the Portuguese Funding Agency for Science and Technology, and Raymond James.
The five winners were selected from 22 finalists based on the assessment of qualitative criteria, including innovation, existing and future customer base, amount of capital raised, level of maturity and market approach.
The Winners
The winners have each won the opportunity to present their projects during the FinSpace event and cocktail reception and also 10,000 euros worth of Euroconsult's research products and six months' public relations support with Communications Smart, a PR agency that supported the FinSpace initiative.
The jury, which has been in deliberation over the summer, was composed of leading figures from the satellite industry:
Jury President: Jean-Jacques Dordain, Member of Advisory Board, SpaceResources.lu
- Pacôme Révillon, CEO, Euroconsult
- Pete Worden, Chairman, Breakthrough Prize Foundation
- Will Porteous, Partner, COO, RRE Ventures
- Ric Prentiss, Managing Director Telecom Research, Raymond James & Asso.
- Serge Van Herck, Space Entrepreneur
"The success of FinSpace is one of the many signs demonstrating that new space is also moving in Europe. It is a wide movement, involving many actors, public agencies, traditional and new, big and small, entrepreneurs and investors; they are all contributing to make the movement irreversible and sustainable, including in Europe. Congratulations to the top 5 which have been short listed from 22 promising ones," said Jean-Jacques Dordain, Jury President and Member of Advisory Board, SpaceResources.lu
"The future and growth of our industry will be shaped through innovative ideas and disruption. The FinSpace Awards recognize the most promising start-ups for their outstanding new concepts and initiatives, while at the same time facilitating exchanges and the formation of partnerships between them, established industry players and investors," said Pacôme Révillon, CEO, Euroconsult
The five winners share their thoughts
AEROSPACELAB
"We are in the middle of a transformation where space infrastructure is becoming smaller, cheaper and smarter every day. Automated tools must be developed to leverage the vast amount of data collected by heterogeneous space systems and match the relevant information with the relevant customer. Aerospacelab is thrilled to be part of this new wave of stakeholders and works concurrently on small satellite technology and artificial intelligence techniques to hinder the historical barriers for users." — Benoir Deper, Founder, Aerospacelab
ASTRAPI
"Astrapi is deeply honored to have been selected as a winner of FinSpace 2017, after a thorough and highly competitive review. This is a great validation for Astrapi, as it recognizes the importance of our unique spiral modulation technology that directly addresses the communication spectrum crisis facing the space industry. We look forward to building relationships with companies and investors in the FinSpace community." — Jerrold D. Prothero, Ph.D., CEO and Co-founder, Astrapi Corporation
LEOLABS
"LeoLabs is honored to be selected as a finalist at FinSpace. We are the data platform for mapping and navigation of LEO – our data supports safe satellite operations, space situational awareness, insurance, and more. Our platform enables application developers to bring new services to market that utilize real-time and historical data. We look forward to supporting the LEO economy as it continues to grow rapidly over the foreseeable future." — Dan Ceperley, CEO and Co-founder, LeoLabs
OXFORD SPACE SYSTEMS
"For Oxford Space Systems to be a winner at this year's FinSpace Awards is a fantastic achievement and one that myself and the OSS team is really proud of. It's great to have such prestigious recognition of our business model, technical innovation and record-breaking achievement in getting our first novel deployable product in orbit successfully. Recognition from Euroconsult, a globally respected industry name, will enhance our profile and assist in attracting new investors and talent in our next stage of growth." — Mike Lawton, Oxford Space Systems
THRUSTME
"ThrustMe is developing and commercializing unique electric space propulsion systems for next-generation satellites for both new and traditional space actors. We are grateful for the opportunity that FinSpace gives us to discuss future collaborations with executives and influencers in the global space industry." — Ane Aanesland, Founder and CEO, ThrustMe
Summit for Satellite Financing
The Summit for Satellite Financing is the unique annual executive meeting place for the global satellite communications business. The conference takes place as part of the World Satellite Business Week which includes SmartPlane and the Summit on Earth Observation Business. The Summits together bring together over 130 top-level speakers and 1,000 senior executives from the satellite communications and information sectors and the financial community.
