October's Space Dirt 🚀

2024 just keeps picking up steam in the world of hard tech. This is another DENSE issue of Space Dirt chock-full of information.

Let’s get to it.

REAL ESTATE HIGHLIGHTS

Skytron leased 4,800 square feet at 130 Penn Street, El Segundo, CA. Co-Founder Shane Stinemetz announced their new El Segundo HQ on X.

GrayMatter Robotics leased 97,338 square feet at 2226 E 223rd Street, Carson, CA. (source: Me!)

My client, Cambium, held a ribbon-cutting ceremony commemorating the opening of its new El Segundo HQ at the iconic former Wyle Lab building. Typically, there are only 1-2 office ribbon-cutting events in El Segundo a year. That’s why it was neat to see Cambium have that honor! Special thanks to the City of El Segundo and Mayor Drew Boyles for bringing this honor to fruition. I also want to thank Greg Singer at Stifel Financial Corp., who cohosted the event with CREA. For more info, the City of El Segundo City of El Segundo produced a short video celebrating the opening of Cambium's new facility. And Cambium’s CEO, Simon Waddington, wrote a wonderful LinkedIn post celebrating the ceremony and the Gundo.

Durin leased 3,200 square feet at 601 E El Segundo Blvd, El Segundo, CA. (source: Me!)

Argo Space leased 9,160 square feet at 149 Lomita Street, El Segundo, CA. (source: Me!)

Aerospacelab leased 34,734 square feet at 20000 S Vermont Ave, Torrance, CA. This state-of-the-art facility is set to increase the production of satellite technology and positions the company to meet the growing demands of the global aerospace market. A year ago, Aerospacelab opened its U.S. presence in Palo Alto, and now opens the doors to its first factory designed to address its growing U.S. customer base. (source: PR Newswire)

El Segundo, CA’s Pacific Defense held a grand opening of its Sunnyvale, CA Hardware Design Center, which is strategically located alongside its Manufacturing Operations facility. (source: LinkedIn)

EnergyX announced a new 40,000-square-foot facility in Austin, TX. The company said the new mixed-use facility in Austin will house EnergyX’s innovation lab, global operations controls, DLE production, and warehouse. (source: Mining.com)

Kairos Power announced the start of construction on a new facility at its Albuquerque, New Mexico campus to produce high-purity molten salt coolant for advanced reactors, starting with the Hermes Low-Power Demonstration Reactor in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. (LinkedIn)

STEALTH NO MORE

El Segundo, CA-based mining company Durin came out of stealth via an X announcement from its Founder, Ted Feldmann. “Durin is my plan to solve the biggest challenges in mining, discovering mineral deposits necessary for national security and clean energy in record time and cost efficiency.”

Robinhood Co-founder and former Co-CEO Baiju Bhatt announced his new company, Aetherflux, on LinkedIn and X. “Our mission is to commercialize space solar power. If we succeed, we unlock a renewable energy source for humanity that can be delivered virtually anywhere.” The new company is located in San Carlos, CA.

Volta Space Technologies, headquartered in Montréal and with offices in the United States, revealed plans for satellites that would collect power and transmit it via lasers to spacecraft on the lunar surface, helping them survive the two-week lunar night or operate in permanently shadowed craters at the lunar poles. Justin Zipkin, co-founder and chief executive of Volta, said in an interview that the company emerged from a class project at the International Space University to power satellites as a service. That led to participating in a NASA prize competition called Watts on the Moon for developing lunar power technologies. (sources: LinkedIn and Space News)

REAL ESTATE CORNER

Good news! Needing SCIF space means you’re doing important stuff.

Bad news! Trying to find SCIF space - and SCIF space that meets your needs - isn’t easy.

I’ve been working with a couple of people on their SCIF requirements and have become well-versed in this special type of real estate need and, maybe more importantly, where to find it.

Tip: As you might already know, it is a long process and is not cheap. I will help you plan accordingly.

If you’re in the market, let me know how I can help.

Also, follow me on X for opportunities, news, and announcements like the ones above and below.

NOTABLE FUNDINGS

This one isn’t a funding announcement but points to the potential for more deep tech funding. According to TechCrunch,  Interlagos, the El Segundo-based venture capital firm started by former senior SpaceX leaders, is looking to raise $550 million for its first venture fund, according to regulatory filings and a confidential deck sent to prospective LPs and viewed by TechCrunch. The firm will provide capital from inception through Series B, with the targeted $550 million to be deployed across 26-32 investments, the deck says. (source: TechCrunch)

Rockville, MD’s X-Energy Reactor Company (“X-energy”), a leader in advanced nuclear reactor and fuel technology, today announced a Series C-1 financing round of approximately $500 million, anchored by Amazon. The investment will help meet growing energy demands by funding the completion of X-energy's reactor design and licensing as well as the first phase of its TRISO-X fuel fabrication facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Additionally, the funding will support future carbon-free projects that will use X-energy’s Xe-100 advanced small modular nuclear reactors (“SMRs”). Citadel Founder and CEO Ken Griffin, affiliates of Ares Management Corporation (“Ares”), NGP, and the University of Michigan join Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund in the financing round. (source: X-energy.com)

Impulse Space announced a $150 million Series B funding round, led by Founders Fund. The round also included participation from other returning investors like Lux Capital and Spring Tide, as well as attracting new investors, such as DCVC. Other participants in the funding round included Airbus Ventures, Alumni Ventures, Balerion Space Ventures, RTX Ventures, Tamarack Global, 137 Ventures, Elysium, First Principles Group, Island Green, Overmatch, and Trousdale Ventures. The funding will be used to further grow the Impulse team and to support the ongoing production of both the Helios and Mira vehicles. The Series B round brings Impulse’s total funding to $225 million. (source: ImpulseSpace.com)

Columbus, OH-based Path Robotics secured $100 million in Series D funding. This capital injection is intended to expand its robotic welding technologies and scale its operations. The funding was led by Matter Venture Partners, with additional support from firms like Drive Capital, Yamaha Ventures, and Taiwania Capital. The investment supports the company’s goal of revitalizing American manufacturing through AI-enabled automation. (source: SuperbCrew)

Mendaera, a Silicon Valley-based healthcare technology company developing a handheld robotic interventional platform, announced the close of $73 million in Series B funding led by Threshold Ventures, with participation from investors including Lux Capital, PFM Health Sciences, and Fred Moll (founder of Intuitive Surgical and Auris Health). The financing will further Mendaera’s efforts to scale robotics and AI across mainstream medical procedures. (source: Business Wire)

EnergyX has raised $50 million. EnergyX has raised over $110 million in total funding, backed by investors including General Motors, Eni, and POSCO. The company specializes in lithium extraction and technology related to solid-state battery technology. (source: Mining.com)

Beacon AI, a Silicon Valley-based aviation intelligence startup, announced it raised $15 million in Series A funding, led by Costanoa Ventures, with significant participation from Scout Ventures, joining numerous new and existing investors, including Sam Altman and JetBlue Ventures - raising the total venture funding to $20 million. The Series A investment will allow Beacon to expand its team, deliver on existing DoD and commercial engagements, and accelerate the deployment of its flagship products: Murdock, an AI-powered pilot assistant akin to R2-D2 for pilots, and Lighthouse, its data platform and flight management system. (source: Beaconai.co)

Led by ex-SpaceX engineers, Hawthorne, CA-based Freeform lands $14 million to scale a new method for 3D printing metal. The round was led by NVIDIA's NVentures and AE Ventures. As part of this investment, Freeform will join NVIDIA Inception, a program that supports cutting-edge startups, and will leverage NVIDIA's accelerated computing platform to supercharge its existing AI-driven platform, which provides real-time predictive control over the complex physics of the metal 3D printing process. (source: TechCrunch)

Airloom Energy received $13.75 million in financing to build a pilot in Wyoming to test its technology. Lowercarbon Capital led a funding round that included Gates’s Breakthrough Energy Ventures LLC for $7.5 million, with the rest coming from the state of Wyoming and the Department of Defense. Instead of rising on a tower, the startup’s turbine uses a rollercoaster-like track. Wind pushes wings around the structure, which in turn pulls a belt that powers generators to produce electricity. (source: yahoo! finance)

Carbon Ridge announced it has raised $9.5 million in funding, bringing the company’s total funding to date to $15.5 million. The round was led by Crosscut Ventures and Western Technology Investment (WTI), with participation from existing investors The Grantham Foundation, Berge Bulk, Rusheen Capital Management and Plug and Play Ventures. Katapult Ocean, Incite, Spitzer Industries, and Canopy Generations Fund also participated in the round. With this investment, Carbon Ridge will advance the commercial demonstration of its patent-pending onboard carbon capture & storage solution. (source: Business Wire)

New York-based scooter startup Infinite Machine has closed a $9 million seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz’s American Dynamism team as it preps for production and initial deliveries next year of the $10,000 “launch edition” of its P1 scooter. Also participating in the round were VC firms Adjacent and Necessary Ventures, as well as the founders of womenswear company Reformation, software platform Replit, and AI startup Hugging Face. (source: TechCrunch)

Argo Space’s plan to power orbital tugs with moon water pulls in $7.9 million led by Crosslink Capital, with participation from existing investors Stellar Ventures and Type One Ventures. The company closed a $2 million pre-seed round last April. (source: TechCrunch)

Paladin’s $5.2 million seed round was led by Gradient, with participation from Khosla Ventures, 1517, and Toyota Ventures. Gradient believes Paladin will drive meaningful change in public safety and redefine how communities are served. (source: Gradient.com)

Fortius Metals, a metal 3D printing company, is pleased to announce the successful closure of an additional $2 million in their Seed+ funding, bringing the total raised in the financing round to $5 million. This latest funding infusion follows previous investments of $3 million and includes the addition of new strategic investor Finindus, who joined after receiving clearance from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). Previous investors in the round include 412 Venture Fund, AM Ventures, and M7 Holdings. (source: PR LOG)

AGREEMENTS, PARTNERSHIPS, & CONTRACTS

SpaceX was awarded an eight-launch, $733 million contract by the U.S. Space Force as part of an ongoing program intended to foster competition among launch providers. The award includes seven launches for the Space Development Agency and one for the National Reconnaissance Office, all anticipated to use Falcon 9s and occur no earlier than 2026. (source: TechCrunch)

Redondo Beach, CA-based Impulse Space announced it has been awarded a $34.5 million Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase III contract by the United States Space Force’s (USSF) Space Systems Command (SSC) Space Safari Office, in partnership with the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU). The contract is in support of the VICTUS SURGO and VICTUS SALO TacRS missions. (source: ImpulseSpace.com)

Space Force awarded Picogrid the first delivery order from its Rapid, Resilient Command and Control (R2C2) program, aimed at enhancing command and control infrastructure for satellite systems. R2C2, a joint initiative with Space Systems Command, is building a cloud-based satellite operations infrastructure to provide military operators with increased flexibility in commanding and repositioning satellites in response to emerging threats. (source: Picogrid.com)

The U.S. Space Force awarded a $25.3 million contract to defense tech startup Anduril Industries. Under the agreement, Anduril will enhance the data integration and communication systems of the Space Surveillance Network. (source: SpaceNews)

Epirus announced a nearly $17 million contract modification from the U.S. Army’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office (RCCTO) for the development and integration of an upgraded sensor suite in support of the Integrated Fires Protection Capability High Power Microwave (IFPC-HPM) program. (source: Epirusinc.com)

Rocket Lab announced it has been selected by NASA to complete a study for retrieving rock samples from the Martian surface and bringing them to Earth for the first time. The mission would fulfill some of the highest priority solar system exploration goals for the science community – to revolutionize humanity’s understanding of Mars, potentially answer whether life ever existed on the Martian surface, and help prepare for the first human explorers to the Red Planet. (source: Business Wire)

Astroport Space Technologies, a leading provider of advanced space exploration solutions, and Orbit Fab, a pioneer in in-space refueling and resource utilization, announced a strategic partnership to accelerate the development of lunar infrastructure and enable sustainable long-term space exploration. Daniel Faber, CEO of Orbit Fab, commented, “We are excited to partner with Astroport to explore the vast potential of lunar resources and to develop the infrastructure needed to support and fuel future space exploration activities.” (source: SpaceNews)

Space technology firm True Anomaly has selected Firefly Aerospace’s Alpha rocket to launch its autonomous Jackal orbital vehicle for a U.S. Space Force rapid-response demonstration mission. Colorado-based True Anomaly will support the military’s Victus Haze mission, scheduled for 2025, as part of the Tactically Responsive Space (TacRS) program. The partnership with Firefly includes provisions for two additional missions, as both companies aim to strengthen their position in the military’s rapid-response space operations sector. (source: SpaceNews)

Proteus Space announced a significant investment from SAIC, a technology integrator focused on serving the mission-critical operations of government agencies. In addition to the investment, Proteus and SAIC have entered a multiyear strategic partnership to enhance and scale the deployment of Proteus’ MERCURY™ platform. MERCURY™ is an AI-powered, Industry 4.0 digital/physical twin system that autonomously designs custom satellite buses tailored to specific payloads, thousands of times faster than humans. (source: SpaceNews)

Anduril Industries is announcing a strategic partnership with Impulse Space, a Redondo Beach-based provider of agile and cost-effective in-space transportation services, to further enable rapid development and delivery of integrated space systems to high-energy orbits for the United States and Allies. (source: ImpulseSpace.com)

Anduril Industries announced a strategic partnership with Apex, a Los Angeles-based merchant supplier of productized satellite buses, to enable rapid development and delivery of space systems for the United States and partners. Anduril will use Apex’s buses for missions where Apex’s off-the-shelf approach and scalable manufacturing enable Anduril to rapidly deliver capability to customers, such as space situational awareness, proliferated LEO architectures, and missile warning and tracking. (source: Anduril.com) 

Inversion Space has become the third company to receive a spacecraft reentry license from the Federal Aviation Administration, paving the way for the startup to launch and return its tech pathfinder mission for orbital delivery later this year. (source: TechCrunch)

WHAT I’M CONSUMING (AND ENJOYING!) 

🎙 Check out the Drone Wars podcasts. I just listened to episode 2 featuring Olaf Hichwa, co-founder and CTO of Neros Technologies. Apparently, Drone Wars is the #1 defense tech podcast in the country.

🎙 Dan Magy, the founder and CEO of San Diego’s Firestorm Labs, was interviewed on the Demo Day podcast. Dan touches on a lot in this 30-minute interview, from his journey from building counter UAS systems for sports stadiums to the power of 3D printing.

🎙 CX2 co-founders Nathan Mintz and Porter Smith discuss the changing role of electronic warfare in international conflicts on an episode of From the Crow’s Nest podcast.

💻 Payload’s interview with Baiju Bhatt, now founder of Aetherflux. “Baiju reveals how Aetherflux plans to bring to life a 1970s sci-fi vision: harnessing solar power from space to solve Earth’s most pressing energy challenges.”

💰 This TechCrunch article reveals why EnergyX raised $75M from small investors, even after taking VC money from GM and others.

🚀 Here are multiple angles of the SpaceX catch.

📖 This TechCrunch piece was a good read: Why Crosscut Ventures is ‘following the founders’ into climate, space, and beyond.

HOW I CAN HELP YOU

Some people only know me as “that Space Dirt newsletter guy.” Although I do love that moniker, here’s a reminder of the 3* ways I can help with your hard tech real estate when the time is right.

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 hard tech real estate market. I can help. And I come with strong references.

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.)

*Not an exhaustive list 💪

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] 
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