Japanese space startup raises $46m in series C round with the moon as its goal

Ispace, a Tokyo-based space startup that is close to quite literally shooting for the moon, has raised US$46 million in a series C round led by venture capital firm Incubate Fund.

With the latest round, Ispace has cumulatively raised US$195.5 million, the lunar exploration firm said in a statement.

Photo credit: iSpace

Founded in 2010, Ispace was born from the Google Lunar XPrize competition. At the event, its team ended up as one of five finalists. While none of the teams met the competition’s March 2018 launch deadline, Ispace is scheduled to launch two lunar landing missions in 2022 and 2023 under the Hakuto-R program.

Ispace currently has 150 employees across its Japan, Europe, and US operations. The most recent funding will go into building a small commercial lunar lander for a high-frequency, low-cost delivery service to the moon.

“There are an increasing number of stakeholders entering this ecosystem from the development and investment side,” said Ispace founder and CEO Takeshi Hakamada.

The initial launch will focus on making a lunar landing, which would be a first for a privately led Japanese mission. Using a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, Ispace will then look to deliver payloads from Dubai’s Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and three companies under the Canadian Space Agency lunar exploration program.

The second launch will then land and deploy Ispace’s own rover, Sorato, which was developed as part of the lunar technology competition.