Techstars Space Startup Digest

Flat panel antenna company Kymeta Corporation has acquired satellite service provider Lepton Global Solutions LLC, in a move that executives say will strengthen their go-to-market position with the u8 antenna and Kymeta Connect service. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. 

Satellite antenna builder Kymeta announced Tuesday that it closed a significant new round of fundraising led by Bill Gates.

Private Chinese launch firm iSpace has raised $172 million in series B funding for development of a new series of launch vehicles and reusable engines.

In addition to its planned delivery missions, Japanese lunar exploration company ispace is now launching a data analysis service aimed at helping other moon missions.

Indian Earth observation startup Pixxel announced Aug. 19 it raised $5 million in a seed investment round for a constellation of Earth observation satellites.

Warpspace, the Japanese startup developing an inter-satellite data relay network, announced the additional fund raising and has reached $3 M in total.

As a wave of acquisitions washes over the space industry, NewSpace investors are finally finding the exits — just not where they expected them to be.

These missions also represent the hopes to make the moon a destination for commercial activity.

Nearly a third of commercial geostationary communications satellites in orbit are operating beyond their design lives, a far higher figure than previous years, according to a study. 

The space exploration sector is perhaps the hottest investment area in all of technology at the moment. While investment funds within the space sector are still nascent compared to other areas of investment, several have been created and launched in the past 24 months.

The private space launch industry has expanded significantly since the debut of SpaceX, but some markets, like India, are just now getting the regulatory support to clear the way for private players to participate. Now that those barriers are coming down, however, private launch startup Skyroot is leaping ahead on its way