🚀 World View To Go Public

🚀 World View To Go Public

January 13, 2023

The Space Scoop

Week Ended 01.13.2023

Happy Friday! It was a busy one this week. Virgin Orbit experienced a flight anomaly sending shares lower, Virgin Galactic is shaking up its spaceline leadership, $400M in private capital was raised, and World View Space announced an unexpected public listing via SPAC. Lets dive in.

Market Max-Q

Top Stories

1) Virgin Orbit's ($VORB) Start Me Up mission at Space Cornwall experienced an anomaly on Monday evening.

  • After a very marketed and hyped launch, LauncherOne reached space but fell short of reaching orbit, unable place its nine payloads.

  • The Company provided an update on Thursday stating: "At an altitude of approximately 180 km, the upper stage experienced an anomaly. This anomaly prematurely ended the first burn of the upper stage."

  • This now makes LauncherOne 4-for-5 on it's missions, which is a great batting record but comes at an unfortunate time with shares at all-time lows. Shares fell -14% on Tuesday alone.

 2) Virgin Galactic ($SPCE) announced leadership structure changes in preparation for commercial spaceline operations in Q2 2023.

  • The changes will support their near-term objectives of "delivering increased flight frequency and executing on rapid fleet development plans."

  • Will Virgin's timeline hold this time? Lets see.. Shares reacted positively, up +12% on Friday alone, amidst a larger gain for the week.

 3) World View Space announced it will go public via SPAC merger with Leo Holdings Corp. II ($LHC) at a $350M valuation.

  • The stratospheric exploration and flight tourism provided was rumored to be nearing a deal per Bloomberg on Thursday, with official confirmation released this morning. Shares finished the day -0.5%.

  • The transaction is estimated to provide up to $121M of gross proceeds to the combined company and is expected to close in Q2 2023.

  • WV plans to use the capital to expand its remote sensing business into new markets and industries and continue developing its space tourism and research and education capabilities.

In Other News

Capella Space Raises $60M Growth Equity 

The satellite manufacturer and SAR earth observation company investment was led by United States Innovative Technology Fund (USIT). This raise follows tripling of revenue and a $97M Series C from April 2022. Capella plans to expand its imaging capacity and develop new data products for growing customer demand.

SpiderOak Raises $16.4M Series C Round 

The space cybersecurity solutions company announced the oversubscribed round led by Empyrean Technology Solutions, a space technology platform backed by PE firm Madison Dearborn Partners. Method Capital and OCA Ventures also participated in the round.

SES Raises €300M Term Loan 

The seven-year term loan will back design, procurement and launch of three broadcast and broadband satellites spanning Western Europe, Africa and the Middle East. This loan is the largest ever provided by the EIB to a Luxembourg-based company. 

Magnestar Raises $1.1M Pre-Seed Round 

The Toronto-based startup is developing a platform "to help satellite operators predict and avoid potential radiofrequency (RF) interference." Participants in the round included 1862 Capital, the Business Development Bank of Canada, BoxOne Ventures and Entrepreneur First participated.

Chart of the Week

Virgin Orbit's ($VORB) last week was driven by speculative moves prior to and following their Start Me Up launch. From a +30% move higher to -10% lower, shares ended flat over the last 6 trading days.Building a space company is hard. Building a space company in the public market? Even harder. Year-to-date shares are down -12% and -83% since inception.

Links

• Mynaric ($MYNA) Enters Into $24M Definitive Agreement With Undisclosed US-Based Customer• Startup Quub Space Emerges From Stealth• Planet ($PL) Completes Acquisition of Salo Sciences• CAES Space Systems Becomes Frontgrade Technologies• airBaltic To Equip Entire Fleet With SpaceX’s Starlink• Momentus ($MNTS) Provides Vigoride-5 Status Update #1• Sidus ($SIDU) Awarded Subcontract for U.S. Navy Propulsion Program• Rocket Lab ($RKLB) Eyeing Late January for First Electron Launch From U.S. Soil• Astra’s ($ASTR) 2022 Year in Review• Momentus ($MNTS) Contracts With FOSSA Systems To Place Satellites Into Orbit• Intuitive Machines ($IPAX) Partners With Jacobs To Support NASA JETS II Contract• Planet ($PL) and NASA Harvest Announce Commercial Partnership

Opinion

• 2 Big Reasons Why Elon Musk’s SpaceX Is Worth So Much• Chamath Palihapitiya Thinks Musk Will Take Starlink Public This Year• Europe’s Space Ambitions Are Hobbled by Funding Structures• Space Launches Should Withstand Chinese Challenge, Pentagon Mandate Says• Artemis Missions Support the Space Economy• $ARKX: Bet on Drones and Satellites This Decade• Why SES Is the Better Satcom Choice Over Viasat ($VSAT)

Earnings Calendar

• $LMT: January 24 - Before Market Open• $BA: January 25 - Before Market Open• $GD: January 25 - Before Market Open• $NOC: January 26 - Before Market Open

*Company confirmed dates only.