Startup · $438.8m raised
Queensland rocket builder and launchpad scaleup
Gold Coast, QLD
Every investor coverage indicates participated in a round Gilmour Space raised.
Companies Gilmour Space acquired or merged with, per published coverage. Buying a company is not investing in one: nothing here counts in the deals column.
Stories naming Gilmour Space. Where several outlets covered the same round, they are bundled under whichever ran the fullest account.
A Gold Coast venture that raised seed funding this year is building an in-orbit freight and servicing network, and a pathway for testing hardware in space, while the council weighs a defence precinct.
Heidi raised US$100m in a Blackbird-led Series C plus US$240m in customer-acquisition finance from General Catalyst, reaching a $1.26 billion valuation as Australia's fourth billion-dollar startup of the year.
Also Dealroom·This Week in Australian Startups·Dynamic Business·This Week in Australian Startups
Satellite-monitoring camera maker HEO has landed a $37 million Series B, with the federal reconstruction fund contributing $10 million, and will grow its team while pushing more cameras into geostationary orbit.
Also Forbes Australia·Space Connect·This Week in Australian Startups·Dynamic Business
Deep-tech investor Main Sequence is seeking $400 million for a fourth fund, with $75 million already committed by the federal government, after two portfolio companies reached unicorn status this year.
Gilmour Space and Hypersonix have signed a partnership to offer hypersonic flight testing, combining rocket launch and scramjet technology, announced at a National Reconstruction Fund event in Canberra to build sovereign capability.
Profiles space investor Will Scully-Power, whose Pine Gap firm backs Australian space startups and plans a larger US fund with partners; defence VC Beaten Zone has also wrapped up a $26 million fund.
Australian startup capital climbed 30% in early 2024 even as deal counts fell; Skalata Ventures topped investor activity with 13 participations, ahead of Blackbird and Investible.
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Weekly roundup: Blackbird confirms a record fund close and Galileo reaches a first close, Genesis merges with Proudi, IREN secures massive debt, and several startups report raises, grants and program wins.
Blackbird has locked in a second billion-dollar fund — its sixth, slightly bigger than the last — bringing in new institutional backers, and the article recalls portfolio wins, writedowns and failures.
The Australian government is lifting its industry-policy focus on space; the National Reconstruction Fund has already put $200 million into local space companies, among them Gilmour Space Technologies and Southern Launch.
Ablano's boron nitride nanomaterial flew on a suborbital rocket and its coated panels were recovered for analysis in Australia; partners Research Sat and Implement Space helped run the test toward commercialising durable components for reusable launch vehicles.
An analysis of what Australian long-horizon research commercialisation requires, citing Gilmour Space, Cochlear and BluGlass as illustrations of patient capital and ecosystem support needs.
Southern Launch raised a $25m Series A with $10m from the National Reconstruction Fund, led by Brindabella and Company and including ex-Macquarie executives and Coupland Asset Management, to grow headcount and launch services.
Gilmour Space Technologies has appointed ex-NASA deputy administrator and astronaut Pamela Melroy to its board, a move the company says strengthens Australia's sovereign defence space capability.
Cut Through Venture's quarterly data shows Australian startup funding rebounding strongly, yet capital concentrating in a few large rounds while mid-sized companies struggle to raise.
Also Cut Through Venture
Roundup of four ANZ raises: a Queensland rocket company's nine-figure Series E, a New Zealand legal-AI firm's Series B, a seed round for AI code-security, and a Melbourne construction-software raise.
Roundup of four ANZ raises totalling over $307m: Gilmour Space's Series E, Ivo's Series B, Dam Secure's seed round and SPEC Toolbox's pre-Series A, plus a board appointment at Dam Secure.
Beaten Zone's blog touts Australia's space sector, citing CEO Steve Baxter and reporting Gilmour Space Technologies' $217 million Series E from National Reconstruction Fund Corporation and Hostplus, plus its investments in HEO and Zendir.
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Rocket firm Gilmour Space raised a $217 million Series E co-led by the National Reconstruction Fund and Hostplus, reaching a billion-dollar valuation; earlier Series B, C and D raises are recapped.
Blackbird's Rick Baker recounts backing rocket firm Gilmour Space from its 2017 Series A to a newly closed A$217 million Series E at a valuation above US$1 billion.
Also @AuManufacturing
Leaked details from Blackbird's investor day showcase Airwallex and Canva as standout performers, record valuation cuts for Culture Amp and SafetyCulture, and detail Kiki's New York shutdown and settlement.
Gilmour Space's Eris rocket lifted off but exploded seconds later near Bowen; the founder hailed the short flight as a milestone, while its ElaraSat satellite bus flew successfully on a SpaceX rideshare mission.
Queensland superannuation fund Brighter Super has unveiled a startup investment mandate to be managed by QIC; the article also recalls QIC's earlier backing of Attekus, SwarmFarm Robotics, Go1, Gilmour Space Technologies and VALD.
Gilmour Space Technologies flew its Eris rocket for the first time, an Australian-designed orbital vehicle; the brief test ended early via anomaly, with learnings feeding a follow-on vehicle now being built.
Gilmour Space Technologies has secured the maximum $5 million grant under the federal Industry Growth Program, money earmarked for its next-generation engine, even though its founder publicly attacked the national space regulator.
Also Startup Daily
Gilmour Space has final approval to launch its Eris rocket Thursday from Queensland, carrying Vegemite and a camera on the maiden flight of Australia's first home-grown orbital rocket.
Antler in Australia has started its thirteenth residency, gathering upwards of ninety founders in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to build ventures and pitch for pre-seed backing.
Five Australian space companies receive federal grants under the Moon to Mars program, totalling $3.6 million, for projects including navigation systems and radioisotope heaters; Gilmour Space says launch approval delays cost it $20 million.
Five grants under a Moon to Mars supply chain program, worth $3.6 million combined, have gone to recipients including Advanced Navigation, which will develop a high-shock navigation system with Gilmour Space Technologies.
Also Startup Daily
Jelix's note explains its fund's participation in Nominal Systems' oversubscribed seed round, profiling the spacetech founders, their industry collaborations, early profitability and plans for recurring digital-twin revenue.
Eight Australian defence businesses will share $3.47 million in federal grants to buy manufacturing equipment and build facilities; QPE Advanced Manufacturing and Hexion Australia receive $1 million each.
Also Defence Connect
Twelve Australian spacetech companies received Moon to Mars Supply Chain Capability grants totalling over $9m for NASA's Artemis, with NextAero, Neumann Space, Metakosmos, Valiant Space, Gilmour Space Technologies and HEO Robotics among those funded.
Also Startup Daily·SmartCompany·@AuManufacturing·@AuManufacturing·@AuManufacturing
Newsletter roundup covering Australian raises by Gilmour Space, BlockTexx, FirstWave and Bandicoot, acquisitions of Alumina, Cyanco, Quality Air Equipment and Amentco, plus takeover interest in CSR and Prospa.
Australia and the US have signed a Technology Safeguards Agreement easing American rocket launches from local spaceports, while Gilmour has banked an extra $55 million ahead of the debut flight of its Eris rocket.
Weekly roundup of readers' top five stories: Gilmour Space's $55m Series D raise, a $50m MRFF grant for an artificial heart consortium, K-TIG entering administration, defence budget news, and Queensland's return to venture investing.
Queensland's government has set up a venture capital fund managed by QIC and has put in $133 million, partnering with five VC firms so local startups can draw on matched funding.
Rocket developer Gilmour Space has banked a $55 million Series D led by QIC for its first orbital launch, with Blackbird, Main Sequence, HostPlus and HESTA also taking part.
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QVCDF money is going into Main Sequence to fund Queensland deep tech investing; the state government's extra $55 million takes the program to $130 million.
Queensland's government is committing $130 million across five venture firms — Antler, Five V Capital, Main Sequence, Mandalay and Salus — via a new fund to widen early-stage funding for local startups.
Neumann Space will adapt its thruster for a Spire satellite using Commonwealth funding secured via the Australian Space Manufacturing Network, and has finished early space trials of its drive aboard a Skykraft satellite.