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PARIS — With satellite fleet operator SES joining its investor team, Seraphim Capital passed the $90-million mark for its Seraphim Space Fund and closed it with the announcement of two initial investments in Spire Global and Iceye Oy.
London-based Seraphim is no longer the outlier it appeared to be in 2015 when it first announced its intentions to use money from well-known space-industry players to finance startups whose technology ultimately would be useful to the industry’s established companies.
At the time, these included hardware builders Airbus and Surrey Satellites, and satellite services provider Telespazio as well as funding from the European Space Agency and Britain’s Satellite Application Catapult.
Finland’s Iceye Oy plans to launch its first synthetic-aperture-radar (SAR) Earth observation satellites in 2018. In addition to the recent investment by the Seraphim Space Fund, Iceye has received $18.7 million in financing from Draper Associates, Draper Nexus, True Ventures, Lifeline Ventures, Space Angels, the Finnish government and the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 program.
Iceye plans to begin launching a constellation of small radar satellites — “small” and “radar” do not usually play together — in 2018. Before the Seraphim investment, whose value was not disclosed, Iceye had raised $18.7 million in several funding rounds since 2015.
Iceye’s backers have included the European Union’s Horizon 2020 fund and the Finnish government. Other supporters are Draper Associates, Draper Nexus, True Ventures, Space Angels and Lifeline Ventures, the latter based in Finland.
Full Story: https://www.spaceintelreport.com/seraphim-space-fund-closes-91m-invests-u-s-finnish-geospatial-satellite-companies/
Photo Credit Credit: NSR