Ispace Bags USD 28 Million in Series B Round of Financing

Along with the Series B investment round, the company launched a new lunar data business concept, labeled "Blueprint Moon," a planned data-centric platform through which the company aims to support customers with lunar market entry

FREMONT, CA: Japanese space startup Ispace secured USD 28 million in a Series B funding round led by IF SPV 1st Investment Partnership (through Incubate Fund), with participation from Space Frontier Fund, Takasago Thermal Engineering Co. and Mitsui Sumitomo. The latest round of investment takes the company's total raised capital to USD 125 million. The company's proceeds from the investment round will continue to develop its commercial lander ahead of planned launches in 2022 and 2023.

"This new investment and launch of our new lunar data offering concept will not only support the steady development of Ispace's business, but will also prove that Ispace can lead globally in the development of the lunar economy, expanding humanity's presence into space and creating a more sustainable world," said Takeshi Hakamada, Founder & CEO of Ispace, Inc. The company is currently developing a small commercial lunar lander and miniature lunar rovers to deliver customer payloads to the Moon and explore the lunar surface.

Along with the Series B investment round, the company launched a new lunar data business concept, labeled "Blueprint Moon," a planned data-centric platform through which the company aims to support customers with lunar market entry. Ispace outlined its vision to collect lunar data (i.e., imaging, environmental data, telemetry, resources information, etc.) and apply it to tools and applications, which can be provided as a service to potential customers (i.e., government space agencies, universities, research institutions, and private companies) for mission planning and lunar surface development.

"Since we first met Ispace in 2014, we have been confident they will be a leader in the next generation of the space industry, and we will continue to support them with all of our might," said Toru Akaura, Managing Partner, Incubate Fund. Ispace has already begun to develop tools using publicly available data from government space agencies as a basis for this platform, which can be enriched with data from Ispace's future missions, starting with its first mission. The company employs over 100 personnel in Japan, the U.S., and Europe, and has signed partnerships with JAXA and the Government of Luxembourg.

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