June's Space Dirt 🚀

Happy first week of summer.

In this issue, we share much of the info you’ve become accustomed to with Space Dirt - news at the intersection of hard tech and commercial real estate. Plus, I share how a map on X put me on the (X) map and more.

Okay, let’s get to it already!

REAL ESTATE HIGHLIGHTS

I’m pretty proud of this one—I represented Cambium as it quadrupled its footprint in its leasing of 25,200 square feet at 111 Maryland Street, El Segundo, CA. (Source: Me!)

Auriga Space leased space at 7455 Lampson Ave, Garden Grove, CA. (source: Me!)

Layup Parts leased 27,850 square feet at 15602 Container Lane, Huntington Beach, CA. (source: Me!)

CarbonCaputure leased 83,000 square feet at 3437 S Crismon Road, Mesa, AZ. The facility will be located in Mesa’s Elliot Road Technology Corridor, which includes Apple, Google, and Meta. (source: AZ Commerce)

Boom announced the completion of construction on the Overture Superfactory – a 179,000 square foot final assembly line located at the Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro, NC. The Superfactory is the first supersonic airliner factory in the United States, strengthening next-generation American leadership in aerospace manufacturing. Overture aircraft produced at the state-of-the-art facility will bring vital innovation to aviation and set a new standard for global air travel – serving hundreds of millions of passengers. (source: BoomSupersonic.com)

Anduril announced that it plans to significantly expand the Mississippi Solid Rocket Motor Complex, located in McHenry, MS. The complex is “a 450-acre propellant mixing and solid rocket motor production facility that has been sited for millions of pounds of explosives,” the company said. Anduril plans to renovate 92,000 square feet of factory space, adding new robotics equipment and manufacturing systems. This announcement comes along with Anduril saying it is investing more than $75 million to increase the propellant mixing and solid rocket motor annual production capacity at the facility from 600 to more than 6,000 tactical-scale solid rocket motors. (source: SpaceNews)

Vast opened an office at 1341 G St NW, Washington, DC. From Vast’s CEO, Max Haot, on X, “To win the NASA ISS replacement CLD competition, we not only need to design, build, and test hardware in California but also to build trust and advocate for Vast in DC with a full-time team and office.” Located two blocks from the White House, Vast’s DC office hosts a world-class team focused on legal and government affairs, regulatory licensing, business development, and space policy. (source: vastspace.com)

NOTABLE FUNDINGS

El Segundo’s Sift, the first unified observability platform for hardware sensor data, announced it has raised $17.5 million in Series A funding led by GV (Google Ventures). This round brings Sift's total funding to $25 million and will be used to accelerate the development of its platform, expand its team, and support customers across the full hardware development lifecycle. (source: PR Newswire)

Los Angeles-based GrayMatter Robotics, an AI-powered robotics leader empowering humans with intelligent automation, announced $45 million in Series B funding. Wellington Management led the round, which also included NGP Capital, Euclidean Capital, Advance Venture Partners, SQN Venture Partners, and other existing investors 3M Ventures, B Capital, Bow Capital, Calibrate Ventures, OCA Ventures, and Swift Ventures. With the new capital, GrayMatter, founded in 2020 by SK Gupta, Ariyan Kabir, and Brual Shah, is actively hiring for a wide range of roles to meet customer demands, expanding its Los Angeles headquarters, and accelerating the development and deployment of its next-generation AI-powered robotic solutions. (source: PR Newswire)

Los Angeles-based satellite manufacturer Apex has closed $95 million in new capital to scale its operations. The funding round was led by early Apex investors XYZ Venture Capital, and co-led by CRV, along with participation from new investors Upfront, 8VC, Toyota Ventures, Point72 Ventures, Mirae Asset Capital, Outsiders Fund, GSBackers, and existing investors Andreessen Horowitz, Shield Capital, J2 Ventures, Ravelin, Robinhood co-founder Baiju Bhatt and Avalon Capital Group. (source: TechCrunch)

Austin-based CesiumAstro, a startup specializing in phased array communications payloads, raised $65 million in a Series B+ investment round. Since its founding in 2017, CesiumAstro has raised $156 million in equity, including $60 million from an initial Series B funding round two years ago. CesiumAstro plans to expand its staff to bolster research and development and manufacturing both domestically and internationally. (Source: SpaceNews)

Cupertino chip maker Etched has closed a $120 million Series A funding round, co-led by Primary Venture Partners and Positive Sum Ventures. Bringing Etched’s total raised to $125.36 million, the round saw participation from heavyweight angel backers, including Peter Thiel (Uberti, Zhu, and Wachen are Thiel Fellowship alums), GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke, Cruise (and the Bot Company) co-founder Kyle Vogt, and Quora co-founder Charlie Cheever. (source: TechCrunch)

ZeroMark, a pioneering defense technology startup, has announced a $7 million seed funding round led by prominent venture capital firms Ground Up Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz. This investment accelerates the development of ZeroMark's groundbreaking AI-powered auto-aiming system, which transforms standard infantry rifles into highly effective counter-drone solutions, providing a "handheld Iron Dome" accessible to every soldier. (source: Business Wire)

AGREEMENTS, PARTNERSHIPS, & CONTRACTS

Anduril Industries won a $19 million contract from the US Navy to develop a 21-inch diameter solid rocket motor for the second stage of the Standard Missile 6 — a surface-to-air naval weapon used to intercept aircraft and ballistic missiles. (source: SpaceNews)

Rocket Lab has lined up nearly $50 million in federal and state funding that will help the company expand a New Mexico factory where it produces space-grade solar cells. (source: SpaceNews)

The US Space Force has selected Blue Origin, SpaceX, and United Launch Alliance for the National Security Space Launch Phase 3 launch services program. The three companies won contracts potentially worth $5.6 billion over five years. The three companies will compete for orders over the contract period starting in fiscal year 2025 through 2029. Under the NSSL program, the Space Force orders individual launch missions up to two years in advance. At least 30 NSSL Lane 1 missions are expected to be completed over the next five years. The Phase 3 contract is a big win for Blue Origin, marking the first time the space company founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos has been selected to launch sensitive national security satellites. SpaceX and ULA — a Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture — have had a lock on national security launch contracts under the Phase 2 program that began in 2020. (source: SpaceNews)

The Spaceport Company, a startup working to create mobile sea-based rocket launch pads, landed a $2.5 million contract from the Defense Innovation Unit, an organization that scouts commercial tech for the Pentagon. The award will help fund the development of a prototype ocean-going launch complex built on a repurposed Navy torpedo recovery vessel. It’s part of a new DIU program called Novel Responsive Space Delivery aimed at making US access to space more resilient. (source: SpaceNews)

JOB BOARD

I came across a hardware job board, Hardware FYI, that includes “thousands of companies working on all things hardware.” The website seems pretty functional, and I saw lots of familiar companies on there.

WHAT I’M CONSUMING (AND ENJOYING!)

🚨Shameless plug alert. I wrote an article, The Future Of El Segundo's Hard Tech Scene From A Real Estate Perspective (that’s a mouthful!). I share some tips on what to look for when leasing hard tech space that is applicable no matter what city you’re in, as well as what’s going on in the Gundo market right now. Check it out 📰.

📍 Part map, part trending startups (go to “Sectors”), and overall, an awesome resource. I really enjoy clicking around this website: www.buildlist.xyz/map. Ryan McEntush and Christian Keil did a great job pulling it all together.

🗺 Speaking of maps… thanks to this tweet by @zebulgar, my SoCal Hard Tech Landscape map blew up on X. Note that the map was cut off, so please don’t worry if you don’t see your company on there. Anyway, I got a bunch of attention from that, so I’m updating the map and will release the latest version in July’s Space Dirt (membership has its privileges, haha). If you’d like it sooner, email me. And while we’re at it, follow me on X.

🇺🇸 Palantir’s CTO, Shyam Sankar, wrote a piece for American Affairs, Rebooting the American Industrial Base: Software and the Future of Manufacturing, and he doesn’t hold back his thoughts on what’s wrong, but also includes ideas and examples of what America needs to do to get back on track. Learned a lot from this one.

📹 Outpost created a fun tease video for its precision landing technique. I really liked the score, too!

📈 The always interesting Nathan Mintz writes about how to think about options packages when considering a job offer in his Substack.

If you’re not already a Space Dirt subscriber, what are you waiting for?!

Thanks for reading.

If you’d like your office and/or manufacturing space or business profiled - or even your city! - let me know. It’s always fun to explore and share the different components of the hard tech industry.

Erik Stiebel
Founder and Vice President
CA DRE License #02080746
424.241.4795 | [email protected] 
Follow me on 𝕏

P.S. Whenever you’re ready, here are 3 ways I can help you with your real estate.

1. A new home for your growing business. The good news - you’re growing! The bad news - you need to move and you don’t know the market. I can help.

2. Sublease your space. You’ve outgrown your space and need to move but don’t want to pay two rents? I got you.

3. Time to renew your lease? Want to make sure you’re getting a fair deal from your Landlord? In my experience, you can never be too certain. (BTW, I recommend starting the lease renewal process 12 months out at a minimum.)

4.  Bonus: Promote your business or product to over 1,000 subscribers by sponsoring this newsletter.