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- 🚀 Virgin Orbit in Trouble?
🚀 Virgin Orbit in Trouble?
🚀 Virgin Orbit in Trouble?
The Space Scoop
Week Ended 02.03.2023
Happy Friday! Virgin Orbit appears to be in a full blown liquidity crunch, Sidus tanked on a share offering, Deutsche Bank is bullish on two space SPACs, and the January space stock performance numbers are in. Lets dive in.
Market Max-Q
Top Stories
1) Sidus Space ($SIDU) announced and closed a $5.2M public stock offering.
And similar to SatixFy ($SATX) last week, market's weren't kind to the news with shares falling -51% this week.
Originally estimated for 15M shares of Class A common stock, 17.25M shares were sold to the public at $0.30 per share. Sidus also granted the underwriters a 45-day option to purchase up to an additional 2.25M shares, which received full exercise.
The Company intends to use the net proceeds of the offering "for sales and marketing, operational costs, product development, manufacturing expansion and the remaining proceeds for working capital and other general corporate purposes."
2) Virgin Orbit ($VORB) received another lifeline from Richard Branson this week.
On Monday, Virgin Orbit sold and issued to Virgin Investments Limited a senior secured convertible note in the principal amount of $10M, with a 12% interest rate. This follows similar debt raises of $25M and $20M in November and December at 6%.
The Company notes it use the net proceeds for "working capital." It is assumed VORB is currently under a liquidity crunch following its latest launch failure. Who would have thought $VORB would potentially be in worse shape than $SPCE 6 months ago? Not us.
We will get a better picture when the company reports Q4'22 earnings in the coming month. VORB reported operating losses of ~$(150)M through the first nine months of 2022.
3) Deutsche Bank ($DB) released their 2023 Space Outlook insights.
The firm named Rocket Lab ($RKLB) its top pick of the year, downgraded Astra ($ASTR) to a 'Hold' rating from 'Buy' cutting its price target to $1 per share from $2, and called BlackSky ($BKSY) their “wild-card sleeper pick” for the year.
In Other News
Embedded Ventures Launches Inaugural $100M Fund
(CNBC)
The VC fund, co-led by co-founder of Relativity Space, is focused on investing in dual-use technologies to serve both commercial and defense customers. Two years ago, Embedded signed a CRADA with the U.S. Space Force.
Orbital Sidekick Raises $10M
The SF-based startup provides data analytics to the energy industry from a constellation of hyperspectral sensor satellites. The round was led by Energy Innovation Capital, with participation from Williams and ONEOK ($OKE).
The Exploration Company Raises €40.5M Series A Round
(Company)
The European startup aims to commercialize its full-scale space capsule, test launch its second capsule demonstrator, and expand its team. The round was co-lead by EQT Group and Red River West, with participation from prior and existing investors.
Chart of the Week
Virgin Galactic ($SPCE) and Astra ($ASTR) outperformed in January with +58% and 48% returns, while Sidus ($SIDU) and SatixFy ($SATX) fell -60% and -75% on share offerings.
Links
• Mynaric ($MYNA) Appoints Mustafa Veziroglu As Co-CEO• AAC Clyde Space ($ACCMF) Wins $2.3M Order for Satellite Subsystems• EchoStar ($SATS) Begins Construction of Global S-Band Network• Freeform Emerges From Stealth, Raising $45M For Autonomous Printing Factories• Northrop Grumman ($NOC) Announces $500M Accelerated Share Repurchase Agreement• Virgin Orbit ($VORB) and SatRev Announce Follow-On Launch Services Agreement
Opinion
• Supporting Sustainable Development Through Space Exploration• Space Is Attracting New Business• Virgin Orbit’s ($VORB) Got Bigger Problems Than You Realize• 3 Aerospace-Defense Stocks To Watch
Earnings Calendar
• $VSAT: February 7 - After Market Close• $IRDM: February 16 - Before Market Open• $RKLB: February 28 - After Market Close• $LLAP: March 21 - Before Market Open
*Company confirmed dates only.