🚀 RIP Virgin Orbit

🚀 RIP Virgin Orbit

May 26, 2023

The Space Scoop

Week Ended 05.26.2023

Happy Friday! And Happy Memorial Day Weekend to our US-based readers! The space earnings cycle has ended, five startups raised $85M+ in various funding rounds, and Virgin Orbit is winding down after selling itself in pieces to various competitors. Lets dive in.

Market Max-Q

Top Stories

1) Virgin Orbit ($VORBQ) officially sold its assets via bankruptcy auction for ~$36M and will wind down / cease operations.

  • Rocket Lab ($RKLB) won their Long Beach, CA headquarters, along with manufacturing machinery to accelerate production of Neutron rocket for $16.1M

  • Stratolaunch won the modified Boeing 747 Cosmic Girl carrier craft for $17M

  • Launcher won the Mojave launch site lease and equipment for $2.7M 

 2) AST SpaceMobile ($ASTS) is set to join the Russell 2000 and 3000 indexes.

  • The space-based cellular broadband provider is set to join the small cap and broader market indexes after conclusion of this years annual rebalance, which will be effective after US market open on June 26.

  • “Being added to the Russell 3000 index is an important milestone for AST SpaceMobile and sign of maturity as we have now been a public company for over two years,” said the CFO of ASTS. “We anticipate inclusion in this index to improve liquidity and broaden exposure for our company.”

 3) Terran Orbital ($LLAP) was double downgraded by Bank of America Securities.

  • The bank, which had Terran at a 'Buy' rating last, adjusted its outlook to 'Underperform' with a price target of $1.35 from $7 per share.

  • Analyst Ronald Epstein and team see significant risk associated to LLAP's ramp on the Rivada Space Networks contract along with overall revenue diversity.

  • "In our view, Rivada is still largely unknown customer and we remain concerned around the durability of its growth. Additionally, while management appears confident in the company ability to raise capital, we remain skeptical around the market's appetite. With that said, the company may be able to attract strategic investment."

  • Shares fell -4.0% on Friday and were down -21.7% for the week.

In Other News

SkyFi Raises $7M Seed Round 

The on-demand, high-res satellite image and video provider raised the capital from Balerion Space Ventures. Existing investors J2 Ventures and Moving Capital, and Bill Perkins also participated.

TRL11 Raises $3M Pre-Seed Round 

Boost.VC led the round in the space video production and monitoring startup. Other participants included Wonder VC, Anorak, Geek Ventures, Space Cadets, and several angel investors.

Fleet Space Raises AU$50M Series C Round 

The advanced nanosatellite communications startup's "heavily" oversubscribed round brings its valuation to AU$350M. The new funding is led by Blackbird VC. Grok Ventures, Alumni Ventures and Hostplus also participated in the round.

SatelliteVu Raises ÂŁ12.7M Series A2 Round 

The London-based thermal imaging startup's funding round was led by Molten Ventures and included backing from existing investors Lockheed Martin ($LMT), Seraphim Space Investment Trust ($SSIT), and Earth Sciences Foundation.

GITAI Raises ÂĄ4B Funding 

The Japanese space robotics startup raised ÂĄ4B (or $29M) to accelerate technology development and its US expansion plans. Global Brain led the round, which is an extension of a $17M 2021 Series B.

Chart of the Week

Virgin Orbit: From a $3B SPAC to bankruptcy auction sale, VO is officially winding down. Our first public space market casualty..

Links

• Viasat’s ($VSAT) Acquisition of Inmarsat Receives FCC Approval• Iridium ($IRDM) Adds to Constellation Resilience With Launch of Spare Satellites• Spire ($SPIR) and BlackSky ($BKSY) Partner To Provide AI-Driven Maritime Custody Service• Planet ($PL) Partners with UAE Space Agency for Climate Resilience• Terran Orbital ($LLAP) Announces $37.1M Registered Direct Offering• Virgin Galactic ($SPCE) Completes Successful #Unity25 Spaceflight• Momentus ($MNTS) To Deliver Lunasonde Technology Demonstration Payload to Orbit• Rocket Lab ($RKLB) Launches Second Batch of TROPICS Satellites for NASA• Orbit Fab Selects Impulse Space for In-Space Refueling Demo

Opinion

• SpaceX Investment in Starship Approaches $5 Billion• Cestrian Capital Research Hosts $SPIR CEO• Analyzing Rocket Lab’s ($RKLB) Promising Programs, Financial Outlook and Valuation• Redwire ($RDW) Is on Track To Become Profitable• Planet ($PL): Massive SBCs and Profitability Still Far Away

Earnings Calendar

• $PL: June 8 - After Market Close

*Company confirmed dates only.