Exclusive: SG spacetech firm to raise $5m in series A money

Aliena, a spacetech firm that specializes in developing and making plasma-thruster systems for the small satellite market, is looking to raise US$5 million in a series A round.

The Singapore-based company is currently in talks with new and existing investors for this round, which is expected to close in the third or fourth quarter of this year, co-founder and CEO Mark Lim told Tech in Asia.

Aliena co-founder and CEO Mark Lim / Photo credit: Nanyang Technological University

The spacetech firm’s current backers include 500 Southeast Asia (formerly 500 Durians), Cap Vista (the VC arm of Singapore’s Defence Science and Technology Agency), and Paspalis Innovation and Investment Fund.

Launched in 2018, Aliena aims to tackle the lack of propulsion systems in the market, which can shorten the lifespan and limits the mission capabilities of small satellites. The company is a spinoff from Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.

In 2019, Aliena raised US$1.1 million in its seed round.

See also: Exclusive: Indian spacetech firm eyes $25m series A raise for liftoff

“We spent the last few years using our seed investment to perfect the technology. Now it’s ready to be sold [in the market],” said Lim.

In a bid to make its tech commercially viable, the company will use the newly raised funds to scale its production by doubling its workforce to 16 employees across its research and development, marketing, and business development teams.

Aliena will also make additional hires when the number of orders increases. Currently, the team only consists of engineers.

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

Earlier this year, the startup’s Hall thruster engines hitched a ride on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket as part of a rideshare program to deploy a nanosatellite fitted with Aliena’s fuel-efficient engine.

The nanosatellite was built by another Singaporean spactech startup, Beenext-backed NuSpace, whose integration with Falcon 9 happened via Berlin-based firm Exolaunch.