AE Industrial Partners to manage and expand HorizonX venture capital activity for Boeing and other limited partners as AEI HorizonX, investing in businesses that will transform the future of mobility, space and connectivity, industrial tech, and enterprise digital solutions, with a broader emphasis on sustainability.

BOCA RATON, FL, August 5, 2021 (AE Industrial Partners PR) – AE Industrial Partners, LP (“AEI”), a private equity firm specializing in aerospace, defense & government services, space, power generation, and specialty industrial markets, announced today a partnership with The Boeing Company (“Boeing”) to manage and invest in HorizonX Ventures, Boeing’s venture capital fund. This partnership augments AEI’s capabilities by focusing on early-stage minority equity investments in transformative technologies and businesses that will define the future of AEI’s target markets through the development of new capabilities and an expansion of sustainable aviation.

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

NASA has selected Tethers Unlimited Inc. (TUI) for additional funding to develop its HyperBus Cargo (HBC) platform, which is designed to move modules around in space to support orbital construction.

The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) phase II award will provide up to $750,000 to further HBC development. NASA previously funded the program with a smaller phase I award.

BOSTON, Feb. 4, 2020  (Accion Systems PR) — In-space propulsion system pioneer Accion Systems today announced that it is raising $11 million in Series B funding. The round is being co-led by Boeing HorizonX Ventures and Shasta Ventures.

The Series B round brings Accion’s total funding to date to $36 million, which includes $14 million in U.S. Dept. of Defense and NASA contracts. The new capital will be used to ramp up production of Accion’s next-generation product and to expand hiring.

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

After 15 years of making extravagant but unkept promises to fly more than 600 “future astronauts” to space, Richard Branson must now please an entirely new group of people who are usually much shorter on patience: shareholders.

Following the completion last week of a merger with Social Capital Hedosophia (SCH), the British billionaire’s Virgin Galactic suborbital “space line” will begin trading under its own name on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Monday.

Going public now is an unusual move for a space tourism company that hasn’t flown a singlet tourist to space since Branson announced the SpaceShipTwo program in 2004. Some might see it has putting the cart before the horse.

CHICAGO, Sept. 10, 2018 (Boeing PR) — Boeing [NYSE: BA] today announced its investment in Denver-based BridgeSat Inc., an optical communications solutions company enabling the future of connectivity in space through a network of ground stations and proprietary space terminals.

BridgeSat is developing a global network of optical ground stations (OGS) to transmit large amounts of data into space quickly and reliably. Its stations support low Earth orbit (LEO) and geostationary (GEO) satellite optical communications, enabling secure transmissions between satellites, other spacecraft, unmanned aerial vehicles and high-altitude aircrafts.

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Myriota co-founders CTO Dr. David Haley and CEO Dr. Alex Grant with nanosatellite frame. (Credit: Myriota)

ADELAIDE, Australia (Myriota PR) — Myriota, global leader in nanosatellite internet of things (IoT) connectivity, has closed a US$15 million Series A funding round.

The round was led by Australian VC firms Main Sequence Ventures and Blue Sky Venture Capital and included Boeing HorizonX Ventures, Singtel Innov8 and Right Click Capital. It is globally the largest round announced to date for a tech startup using Space 2.0 for IoT. It is also the first investment outside the United States for Boeing HorizonX Ventures.

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