Japanese start-up gets $90m for space trips

Additional participants included Sparx Group, Real Tech Fund, Development Bank of Japan, Tokyo Broadcasting System, Konica Minolta, Suzuki Motor, Dentsu, Japan Airlines, Shimizu Corporation and Toppan Printing. The capital will support the development of a moon lander and two lunar missions by the end of 2020.

It coincides with iSpace's participation in the Google Lunar Xprize, a $30 million engineering competition that challenges private entrepreneurs to be the first to land a robotic spacecraft on the moon.

The company's flagship hardware project is a four-wheeled rover known as Hakuto that is planned to be put into orbit around the moon, where it will collect data needed to inform future operations. Subsequent missions are planned to involve landing expeditions, delivering customer payloads and construction of an industrial platform for steady lunar development.

"With this funding, iSpace will begin the development of lunar lander to establish a flexible and regular lunar transportation system, and lead the exploration and development of lunar surface through micro-robotic systems," Takeshi Hakamada, founder and CEO of iSpace, said in a statement. "With the network and knowledge of our new shareholders, we will not only expand commercial space activities centered around lunar resources, but also create a sustainable living sphere beyond Earth."

Hakuto is expected to be able to accommodate payloads of about 30 kilograms for clients envisioned to include government agencies, research and academic institutions and private companies. Imaging data collected during orbital missions are expected to be marketable for resource development planning, education, and industries related to 3D topographic mapping.

ISpace is touting the investment as the largest-ever round received by commercial space company globally at a time when venture capital interest in the sector is heating up in Asia Pacific. Innovation in satellite communications technology, in particular, has attracted significant interest due to expectations it will serve as essential internet-of-things connectivity infrastructure.

Recent deals include a $3.7 million Series A round for Australian satellite player Fleet and a $75 million Series D for US-New Zealand aerospace company Rocket Lab. In September, US-based Airbus Ventures led a $7.3 million Series A for Infostellar, a Japanese satellite developer that will use cloud computing to lower the cost of transmissions.

Previous activity by INCJ includes participation in a $35 million round for Astroscale, a Singaporean start-up developing technology for cleaning up orbital debris. The rapid expansion of space debris congestion in low earth orbit has emerged as a credible threat to satellite missions. 

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• Topics
• North Asia
• Technology
• Early-stage
• Innovation Network Corp. of Japan (INCJ)
• Japan
• The Development Bank of Japan (DBJ)
• Venture