Australian launch services company Gilmour Space Technologies has secured $61 million (approximately US$47 million) from global investors in what is the largest private equity investment raised by a space company in Australia.
The Series C round, which includes US-based Fine Structure Ventures, Australian venture capital firms Blackbird and Main Sequence, and Australian superannuation funds HESTA, Hostplus, and NGS Super, brings the company’s total funds raised to date to $87 million.
“We are excited to be making our first investment in Australia with Gilmour Space Technologies,” Brett Rome, lead investor and Managing Partner at Fine Structure Ventures, said.
Fine Structure Ventures is a venture capital fund affiliated with FMR LLC, the parent company of Fidelity Investments.
“The team at Gilmour is building the leading sovereign launch company in Australia, and utilising their innovative hybrid rocket engine to efficiently address the growing global demand for putting satellites into orbit,” Rome added.
Gilmour Space launched its first hybrid rocket in mid-2016 and has since achieved a series of milestones in orbital-class hybrid propulsion technologies that reportedly use safer and lower cost fuels than traditional chemical propulsion rockets.
In recent months, the company has also secured launch contracts with Australian and international customers including US-based Momentus, Sydney-based Space Machines Company, and South Australia’s Fleet Space Technologies.
“It’s fantastic to see the global support for our mission to build and launch lower cost rockets and satellites to orbit,” Gilmour Space CEO and Co-Founder, Adam Gilmour, said.
“This new investment will give us runway to launch our first orbital rocket in 2022. It will help us develop multiple Eris vehicles, grow our team from 70 to 120 in the next 12 months, build our sovereign space manufacturing capability for rockets and satellites, and facilitate a commercial spaceport in Queensland, where we hope to launch the world’s first hybrid rocket to space."