A Mid Summer Rundown

Greetings. I’m hoping this newsletter can be your new “beach read”… but without the drama!

In this issue, we cover real estate highlights, notable fundings and acquisitions, and wrap up with some content I found worthy of sharing.

REAL ESTATE HIGHLIGHTS

Senra Systems opened its office in Torrance. Senra, founded by two SpaceX engineers, is working on building the first software-powered wire harness manufacturing company. (source: Me)

Impulse Space recently moved to 2651 Manhattan Beach Blvd, Redondo Beach. COO Barry Matsumori recently gave me a tour of this 59,549 square foot building and it is impressive. Understandably, he prefers to keep what’s going on inside under wraps, so no interior pics to share.

Mach Industries landed Sequoia Capital’s first investment into defense tech and is courting interest from the Pentagon. Mach’s seed round, which included participation from Marque VC and Champion Hill Ventures, came to $5.7 million. Founded by 19-year-old MIT dropout, Ethan Thornton, Mach, which is now about 15 people full-time, is headquartered in Austin but also maintains offices in Boston. There, the company conducts all the engineering work to build the systems; but Texas, with plentiful open land, is where the company actually puts the hydrogen to work in kinetic or combustible applications. (source: TechCrunch)

Amazon will invest $120 million to build a satellite processing facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, as the company prepares to launch the first satellites for its Project Kuiper internet network, the tech giant announced Friday. The facility will be built at the Launch and Landing Facility that was once where NASA landed Space Shuttle missions. The LLF is now leased and operated by Space Florida, which serves as the state’s space economy development arm. (source: CNBC)

PARTNERSHIPS, ACQUISITIONS, AND NOTABLE FUNDINGS

Impulse Space, the space logistics startup headed by founding SpaceX employee Tom Mueller, has closed a new tranche of funding to further develop its line of orbital transportation vehicles. The oversubscribed $45 million Series A was led by RTX Ventures, the venture capital arm of RTX (formerly Raytheon Technologies), and included participation from existing investors Founders Fund, Lux Capital, Airbus Ventures and Space Capital. Founders Fund led Impulse’s $20 million seed round in early 2022, while Lux Capital previously supported the company with a $10 million funding deal last summer. (source: TechCrunch)

This article isn’t about one acquisition, but more of an exploration into what’s going on in the industry. Over the last 12 months, young space companies made more acquisitions than their older peers, according to analysis from British investment firm Seraphim Space. Satellite maker York Space Systems, launcher Firefly Aerospace, defense contractor Anduril, and other “NewSpace” ventures formed the bulk of the 28 mergers and acquisitions Seraphim tracked over the period. (source: SpaceNews)

WHAT I’M CONSUMING (AND ENJOYING)

💰Informative deep dive from fellow space newsletter creator, Ian Vorbach, on how venture capital continues to shape and influence the “new space” industry.

📕I suppose I never really thought about it, but it never occurred to me that the FAA could affect space travel. Varda Space Industries launched its first spacecraft, called W-Series 1, on the SpaceX Transporter-8 rideshare mission June 12, to test the ability to produce crystals in microgravity. Those crystals would be brought back to Earth in a reentry capsule set to return as soon as July 17. However, now Varda is waiting…and waiting on the FAA for a license to return to its spacecraft to earth.

⛽️ 3D printed rocket fuel anyone? Space Impulse interviews Dr. Justin Karl, chief engineer at Firehawk Aerospace.

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Thanks for reading.

If you’d like your office and/or manufacturing space or business profiled, let me know. It’s always fun to explore and share the many different components of the space business.

As always, I’m here to help with your real estate needs.

Over and out.

Erik Stiebel
Founder and Vice President
CA DRE License #02080746
(c) +1 424.241.4795
[email protected]