• Newly launched space investment program supports $87m series C funding round for ICEYE
• Builds on OTB Ventures alliance with Draper Venture Network

AMSTERDAM, 22 September 2020 – OTB Ventures, a leading venture capital firm specialized in investments in technology companies originating in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), today announces the launch of a dedicated investment vehicle to support Europe’s leading space technologies – OTB Space Program I – backed by the European Investment Fund and the European Commission through the InnovFin for Equity programme.

Peregrine lunar lander (Credit: Astrobotic)

Astrobotic has pulled out of the Google Lunar X Prize, according to an update on the Space Angels Network website.

As a former XPRIZE contender, Astrobotic was the only team to win all three of the competition’s Milestone Prizes, which brought the company $1.75 million in prize money. Astrobotic is now poised for further success: Their Peregrine Lander will carry customer payloads to the Moon’s surface in 2019, including the rovers of three other GLXP competitors. These initial customers, who have had an opportunity to evaluate all potential service providers, have said that Astrobotic is “years ahead of the competition.”
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Falcon 9 launches the Dragon CRS-9 mission to the International Space Station. (Credit: NASA)

NASA’s new publication, “Economic Development of Low Earth Orbit,” consists of a series of papers that examines a number of important policy questions that will be of rising importance as NASA transitions human spaceflight in LEO to the private sector.

One of the papers, “Venture Capital Activity in the Low-Earth Orbit Sector,”
has detailed information on what U.S. venture capitalists have invested in. Key excerpts from the paper follow.
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A Minotaur V rocket carrying NASA’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) lifts off from at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on Friday, Sept. 6, 2013. (Credit: NASA/Chris Perry)

The Space Angels Network has sent the following letter opposing the use of surplus ICBMs for the launching of commercial satellites to the Senate Armed Services Committee.

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Ceres constellation (Credit: Planetary Resources)

REDMOND, Wash.,  May 26, 2016 (Planetary Resources PR) – Planetary Resources, Inc., the asteroid mining company, announced today that it has secured US$21.1 million in Series A funding. The capital will be used to deploy and operate Ceres, an advanced Earth observation business that features the first commercial infrared and hyperspectral sensor platform to better understand and manage humanity’s natural resources.

The funding was led by Bryan Johnson and the OS FUND; and joined by Idea Bulb Ventures; Tencent; Vast Ventures; Grishin Robotics; Conversion Capital; The Seraph Group; Space Angels Network, a syndication of investors from Angel.co; and Larry Page. Earth observation will be another aspect of Planetary Resources’ operations in addition to prospecting and mining asteroids.

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WASHINGTON (AIAA PR) — A coalition of space organizations today released a joint white paper, “Ensuring U.S. Leadership in Space,” at a National Press Club Newsmaker news conference at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.

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SILICON VALLEY, Calif., Sept. 3, 2015 (SFF BPC PR) – The Space Frontier Foundation’s NewSpace Business Plan Competition (BPC), which awards seed money, announced today that the first two of five total regional, qualifying competitions for the 2015/2016 competition cycle will be held in New York on October 22, 2015 and Los Angeles on December 3, 2015.

The cities will each host a Shark Tank-style event whose winners will advance to the national competition in Seattle. Submissions from the Northeast open September 1, 2015 and November 5, 2015 in the Southwest. Partners of the BPC include the Space Angels Network, OrbitalATK, Heinlein Prize Trust and the Space Finance Group.

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WEBSTER, Texas, August 19, 2015 (NanoRacks/SAN PR) –NanoRacks and Space Angels Network have joined forces to support and invest in STEM education and early stage-space companies by fully using the DreamUp Approved system (www.dreamup.org) of certifying those ventures whose space-based plans are deemed realistic.

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TAIPEI, TAIWAN, 9 February 2015 (SAN PR) – In March, the European Chamber of Commerce Taiwan’s (ECCT) Technology Committee is holding a lunch meeting to discuss opportunities for Taiwan/Europe cooperation in (autonomous) satellite navigation, as well as future opportunities for space exploration in Taiwan. The event will feature speaker Jordan Vannitsen, Space Systems Engineer from ESA, and Nathan Kaiser, Asia Hub Representative of Space Angels Network.

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