Astroscale Holdings Inc. (“Astroscale”) has opened a Series E funding round and has secured I-NET CORP. (I-NET), a leading Japanese data center provider, as its first investor for an undisclosed amount.
The additional financing will be used to broaden Astroscale’s current business services and achieve the company’s mission of securing a sustainable orbital environment.
Despite the many complications brought on by the onset of COVID-19, Astroscale has shown steady growth and success in the first half of 2020. In January, the company was awarded a grant of up to US $4.5 million from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government’s “Innovation Tokyo Project,” and in February, Astroscale was selected as commercial partner for Phase I of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) first debris removal project.
Astroscale’s offices in the United Kingdom and United States continue to make key additions to their management and technical teams and are well positioned to service future commercial and institutional customers. In addition to building technical capabilities and securing contracts, Astroscale continues to work with industry and government representatives to develop standards and best practices for safe and sustainable satellite servicing and debris removal.
Astroscale’s success in the first half of the year is expected to continue. Notably, in the later half of 2020 Astroscale is on track to launch its End-of-Life Services by Astroscale-demonstration (ELSA-d) mission, the world’s first demonstration of commercial orbital debris removal.
The Series E funding round will close by the end of 2020.
Nobu Okada, Founder and CEO of Astroscale, stated that daily lives have changed drastically and all have come to depend on satellite services at a whole new level during this unprecedented global crisis. Now, more than ever, it is evident that we need to take action to protect assets in space and, with the broadening of Astroscale's business services, the company will be even better positioned to meet the challenges of orbital sustainability. The firm is grateful to I-NET as the first investor of this Series E funding round.
