Seraphim Space Camp, the first dedicated accelerator for global startups in the SpaceTech industry, has revealed the startups that are participating in Mission 8. Featuring six new startups, the latest cohort is the first since Seraphim’s public listing as Seraphim Space Investment Trust and has attracted founders from all over the world who hope to take their startups to the next level.
By the end of October, the previous seven cohorts (featuring a total of 49 companies) will have collectively raised around US$100 million in private investment since completing the programme. Some of Seraphim Space Camp’s alumni, like Xona Space, Satellite Vu, LunaSonde and Wyvern have confirmed payload slots on launches in 2022 to put their technology into orbit. QuadSAT penned a key commercial deal to use its revolutionary drone technology for antenna diagnostics with SES, a firm that broadcasts to over one billion TV viewers. Other alumni have gone on to win prestigious awards at leading industry events such as SmallSat Symposium and Paris Space Week.
Space Camp continues its relationship with key corporate parties and industry bodies, including the UK’s National Security Strategic Investment Fund (NSSIF), Airbus, AWS, Cobham, Hispasat, Dentons, Dstl, SES, Cyient, Telespazio, Satellite Applications Catapult, enabling the participating startups to engage with industry leaders and forge partnerships and contacts that have a real impact for them.
Mission 8’s cohort includes companies specialising in areas such as on-board AI for satellites to process data at the edge, lunar ISPs, forecasting space weather, 3D modelling for Earth observation, 3D printing of composites, and building cloud infrastructures in space. Mission 8’s companies originate from the US, Luxembourg, France, and Ireland, and include both first-time entrepreneurs and those who have previously sold businesses, building their next venture.
The cohort members are:
Aquarian Space - The Moon's Internet Service Provider
Anisoprint - Stop Metal Thinking. Start Anisoprinting
Array Labs - Providing quality 3D imagery on a global scale
Leanspace - A cloud platform for the space industry – still in stealth
Mission Space - Space Weather. Predicting the Final Frontier
Ubotica - Transforming Satellite Services through On-Board AI
Rob Desborough, Managing Partner at Seraphim Space and CEO of Space Camp, said: “Compared to where we started out with Seraphim Space Camp in 2017, the ecosystem has grown and matured exponentially. The cohort we have onboard for Mission 8 is proof of that. Over the last four years, we have helped 49 companies raise almost $100m of investment and forge relationships with some of the key corporations in the sector, and prepared them as a team for the journey ahead in building the infrastructure for a new space economy.”
Seraphim Space Camp is a ten-week programme, culminating in an Investor Showcase on the 8th December. The accelerator is once again being run remotely with some in-person events, and with over 600 hours of content being delivered.
Mission 8 will include online sessions with experts from the corporate partners, along with a series of workshops and one-to-one mentoring sessions from SpaceTech professionals, advisors, and investors, and pitch practice sessions. The virtual programme has also attracted some of the world’s leading SpaceTech entrepreneurs and experts, to deliver Keynotes and fireside chats, including:
Candace Johnson, Co-Founder of SES & Chair of the Seraphim Space Advisory Board
Muhammad Shahzad, CFO at Relativity Space
Rob Meyerson, Ex-President & Senior Exec of Blue Origin and Founder & CEO of Delalune Space
Matt O'Connell, Former CEO of GeoEye/OneWeb and Partner at DCVC
Mark Bentall, COO to CTO at Airbus
Steve Young, Vice President of Business Development at ICEYE