Finance

New European startup UNIO has hired Frederic C. Baker as CTO. He will lead the architecture build-out of the company’s commercial satellite constellation focused on the automotive and mobility sector. Baker has held roles in the past with the European Space Agency, Ball Aerospace, and LeoSat. Most recently, Baker worked with space debris removal company...

Singapore-based startup Zero-Error Systems (ZES) has closed an oversubscribed $7.5M Series A funding round, with participation from Airbus Ventures. The company specializes in semiconductor solutions for space and power management applications. The funding round announced Monday also included participation from the Dart Family Office.  ZES was founded in 2019 as a university spin-off from Nanyang...

Firefly Aerospace is acquiring smallsat rideshare company Spaceflight for an undisclosed amount, and will end Spaceflight’s rideshare business after its current contracts. The company announced the deal last week on June 8, highlighting Spaceflight’s proven orbital transfer vehicles and experience in mission management as reasons for the acquisition. “We’re currently assessing the needs of our...

Kerry Wisnosky is joining Quantum Space as the startup’s president and CEO, the company announced Friday. He is now responsible for Quantum Space’s strategic direction moving forward as the company prepares for the inaugural launch of its Ranger multi-purpose vehicle in early 2025. Quantum Space was founded in 2021 and recently announced a $15 million...

SES is on the hunt for a new CEO after the company announced that CEO Steve Collar is stepping down. Collar had been in the role just over five years. SES announced the news on Monday, June 12, saying that Collar is leaving at the end of the month to pursue “other professional and personal...

Earth imagery and data company Planet Labs (Planet) saw its fiscal first-quarter 2024 (Q1 2024) revenue total jump 31% year-over-year (YoY) and crossed a threshold of 900 global data subscribers, according to its latest financial results released late Thursday. These results were largely in line with investors’ forecasts. However, a tepid response to Planet’s future...

York Space Systems has completed the acquisition of Emergent Space Technologies, a developer of mission software and Guidance, Navigation and Control (GN&C) solutions for multi-spacecraft missions headquartered in Maryland with offices in Austin, Texas. York said that Emergent’s 20-year history in software development, integration, and testing will enhance the company’s mission software capabilities and its...

Melissa Quinn, the former head of Spaceport Cornwall, has joined spaceflight safety data and tracking company Slingshot Aerospace as its new general manager of Seradata, the launch and satellite database Slingshot acquired in June 2022. Quinn succeeds Tim Fuller, who is retiring on July 1 after leading Seradata for eight years. As General Manager of...

HAMBURG, GERMANY — Executives from the aviation and satellite industries at the Passenger Experience Conference in Hamburg agreed that airlines need to invest in enhancing the passenger experience, as airlines carry more young travelers than ever before with higher demands for connectivity-based services. In a panel titled, ‘Meeting the Expectations of the New Generation Digital...

Hyperspectral Earth-imaging technology startup Pixxel raised $36 million in its Series B funding round and added Google to its list of investors, the company announced Thursday. Some of Pixxel’s existing investors Radical Ventures, Lightspeed, Blume Ventures, growx, Sparta and Athera also participated in the Series B financing, boosting the company’s total financing haul to $71...