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Hello reader,
Today, I want to talk about spacetech, mostly because our top-funded company of the week is an Australian firm that builds rockets to send satellites into space. It reportedly has ambitions to rival Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which I think is pretty cool.
In 2025, spacetech startups achieved record-breaking funding, driven largely by heightened interest in defense tech. It’s not exactly a sector that Southeast Asia is big on, but there are companies in the region working on solutions around satellite manufacturing and propulsion systems – not quite the rockets themselves, but adjacent.
Anyway, where I’m going with this is that, who knows, maybe a Southeast Asian rocket will take me to the moon one day. But for now, I’m hoping to see more funding go into spacetech and other deeptech ventures, fueling research and innovation that could be pretty revolutionary.
You can find all other important investment deals from the last few days in our weekly funding news wrap-up.
Let’s dive into the biggest deals that have recently taken place.
— Stefanie
The biggest deals by market
🇦🇺 Gilmour Space Technologies is an Australian rocket company developing new capabilities for launching small satellites to space. It has raised US$145 million in a series E round from Blackbird, Brighter Super, Funds SA, Future Fund, HESTA Super Fund, Hostplus, Main Sequence Ventures, NGS Super, QIC Ventures, and the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation.
🇨🇳 Uni-Ubi, a firm from China that focuses on AI-related products, has bagged US$73.3 million in a late-stage funding round. Participating investors were Bojiang Capital, Crewstone International, and Shanghai Industries Group.
🇮🇳 Emergent is a platform that lets users build applications by conversing with AI agents. Based in India, it has secured US$70 million in series B money from Khosla Ventures and SoftBank Vision Fund.
🇯🇵 Oceanic Constellations, a Japanese developer and manufacturer of autonomous surface drone vessels, has scored US$14 million in a series B round. Participating investors included Coral Capital, DBJ Capital, Globis Capital Partners, JAFCO Group, Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha, and aSTART.
🇮🇱 ZeroPort is developing a hardware-based platform focused on enhancing data security. The Israel-based company has raised US$10 million in seed money from Clarim Ventures, CyberFuture, Fusion Fund, and Lool Ventures.
Startups that are raising funds
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