Seraphim Space Investment Trust (LSE: SSIT), the world’s first listed fund focused on Space Tech, is pleased to announce an investment of $3 million into US-based space mapping company LeoLabs as part of a $65m Series B round.
LeoLabs provides the mapping service for Space by deploying a proprietary network of ground-based antennas capable of detecting an object as small as 2cm as far as 1,000km away. By mapping the skies in real time and monitoring vastly more objects than existing government-operated systems, LeoLabs is aiming for its cloud-based data platform to become the ‘air traffic control’ system for Space that every rocket launch and every satellite will rely upon to operate safely.
This investment represents the first investment by the Company since its successful IPO on the Premium Segment of the London Stock Exchange on Wednesday 14 July.
Mark Boggett, CEO of Seraphim Space (Manager) LLP, said:
“Space debris represents a systematic risk to the modern world. A collision event between one satellite and a piece of ‘space junk’ could have potentially catastrophic consequences. The current paradigm, which relies on inaccurate and infrequent tracking data provided by the US Air Force, cannot scale to meet the needs of the thousands of new commercial satellites being launched.
LeoLabs’ proprietary network of ground-based radars is exactly what commercial operators need to operate safely in Low Earth Orbit: real time mapping of the skies from 1,000km away.
We backed LeoLabs in its Series A round in 2018 because we believed that it would become the commercial ‘air traffic control system’ for Space – a huge market opportunity. Since then, the LeoLabs team has doubled their ground-based constellation and we are delighted to make a further investment today to accelerate their roll-out and capability.”
