Japanese 🛰️ startup beams up $2.7m in seed funding

ElevationSpace, a Japan-based spacetech startup, has raised US$2.7 million in seed funding from Genesia Ventures, Plug and Play Japan, and Tohoku University Venture Partners, among others.

Including its pre-seed funding, the company has raised a total of about US$3 million to date.

The ElevationSpace team / Photo credit: ElevationSpace

As part of the round, Genesia Ventures partner Masafumi Kawai will join ElevationSpace’s board as a director.

Originating from Tohoku University in Japan, ElevationSpace is developing a space environment utilization and recovery satellite to replace the International Space Station (ISS). It has developed more than 10 small satellites and is developing a unit called ElevationSpace-Recovery (ELS-R), which can conduct space experiments, tests, and manufacturing inside the satellite.

The company says that its ELS-R satellites are much cheaper and easier to use than the ISS because its service doesn’t require crew members and is smaller. Its satellites also allow for more frequent launches compared to the ISS, so users can easily conduct material manufacturing, tests, and experiments in space..

ElevationSpace’s first launch of the ELS-R satellite is planned for 2023 and will use atmospheric reentry technology. The next launch will be the ELS-R1000, a service-providing satellite weighing around 1,000 kilograms, which is scheduled for 2026. The company is aiming for six launches per year by 2030.

The ELS-R satellite / Image credit: ElevationSpace

“Developing countries like Asian countries don’t have enough opportunities to use the ISS while their economies are growing rapidly and space development is gaining momentum. We believe it is necessary to provide opportunities to conduct experiments and demonstrate technologies in space in such regions,” says Ryohei Kobayashi, co-founder and CEO of ElevationSpace.

“The space environment utilization platform developed by ElevationSpace will enable inexpensive and convenient experiments and manufacturing in microgravity. Those things will accelerate the development of new high-performance materials and drugs that could not be created on Earth before,” added Kawai.

The spacetech startup was founded in February 2021 by Kobayashi and aerospace engineer Toshinori Kuwahara, who serves as its CTO.

See also: How Southeast Asia’s spacetech industry can truly take off

The space industry is expected to be worth US$1 trillion by 2040, according to a report by Morgan Stanley.