– Near Space Labs, a geospatial intelligence startup, raised $13m in Series A funding.
– The round was led by Crosslink Capital and joined by Toyota Ventures and existing investors Leadout Capital and Wireframe Ventures.
– Near Space Labs also announced that Crosslink partner Phil Boyer has joined its board.
– Near Space Labs is focused on urbanized areas where change happens very rapidly.
– The company has named its platform “Swifty”.
– Each one is capable of reaching altitudes between 60,000 and 85,000 feet and capturing 400-1,000 square kilometers of imagery per flight.
– The company sells the data it collects and has developed an API through which customers can access the data via a subscription model.

– Skydweller Aero Inc. is an aerospace company based in Oklahoma City, OK.
– Company raised $40M in Series A funding.
– The round was led by Leonardo S.p.A, Marlinspike Capital and Advection Growth Capital.
– The company intends to use the funds to accelerate the development and maturation of its autonomous systems technology, to be applied during flight testing for current and prospective customers, begin designing and manufacturing air vehicles and complete its information and intelligence collection service offerings.

– San Francisco-based startup Orbit Fab raised $10m in funding.
– The round was led by Asymmetry Ventures, with participation from SpaceFund and new investors Marubeni Ventures and Audacious Venture Partners.
– Notably, both Northrop Grumman Corporation and Lockheed Martin Ventures also participated
– The company plans to launch a refueling trial that’s due to launch as early as the end of 2022.

– Kairos Aerospace closed its $26m Series C-1 funding round, led by DCVC.
– Using cutting-edge methane detection algorithms and proprietary sensor hardware, Kairos’ industry leading capabilities to conduct basin-wide aerial surveys identify material methane leaks of all sizes, which it pinpoints on the map with its patented fusion of infrared data, GPS and aerial photography.
– Kairos then provides discreet and actionable insights to its clients in the oil and gas industry so they can quickly fix the leaks.

– OneWeb, a London, UK-based Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite communications company, made a USD $300m equity investment.
– Hanwha Systems, a South Korean Fortune 500, global technology and manufacturing company, made the investment for an 8.8% share.
– The investment is expected to be completed in the first half of 2022, subject to regulatory approvals. On completion, OneWeb will appoint a Board Director to represent Hanwha’s share in the company.

– Callen-Lenz Associates Limited (CAL) is a near Salisbury, Wiltshire-based provider of innovative technology solutions and engineering design services for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.
– The company raised £4.75m in growth funding from Foresight.
– The new investment will be used to scale the business through developing and expanding their workforce and increasing investment in manufacturing facilities.

– Elroy Air, an autonomous cargo drone company, raised $40m funding.
– It brings Elroy’s total raised to $48m to date.
– The company was founded by David Merrill and Clint Cope.
– Elroy is focused on building what Kofi Asante, Elroy’s VP of strategy and business development, called “a dual-use system,” fit for both the defense industry and the commercial market.
– Elroy’s flagship autonomous cargo aircraft, Chaparral, is designed to fly at a 300-mile range, carry 300-500 pounds of cargo and have automated flying and cargo handling capabilities.

– Space propulsion developer Accion Systems raised $42m in a Series C funding.
– The round was led by Tracker Capital and joined by existing investors, including Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Lux Capital, and Space Angels Network.
– The company plans to use the funding to develop and manufacture its fourth generation propulsion system, dubbed the tiled ionic liquid electrospray (TILE) system.

– Agile Space Industries won the Greater Colorado Pitch Series Investment Competition.
– The company received a venture debt $1.8m commitment from Greenline Ventures.
– Agile Space Industries provides mission-optimized propulsion solutions on fast space timelines by coupling rapid prototyping with diagnostic testing and analysis.

– GHGSat, a provider of solutions for high resolution greenhouse gas monitoring from space, completed the second tranche of a funding round initiated in 2020, thereby closing its total Series B funding at US$45m.
– The round was supported by the Government of Québec through Investissement Québec, OGCI Climate Investments and Space Capital.
– The company intends to use the funds to expand its GHG emission detection array to 10 satellites and 3 aircraft sensors by 2023, as well as to expand its international commercial presence, particularly in Europe and the US.

– Gilmour Space Technologies, an Australian rocket launch startup, raised $61m funding.
– The round was led by Fine Structure Ventures and included contributions from Blackbird and Main Sequence, and Australian pension funds HESTA, Hostplus and NGS Super.
– The company plans to use the funds to nearly double its workforce, from 70 to 120 employees, and develop a new commercial spaceport at Abbot Point, Queensland.
– Gilmour Space has already signed agreements with prospective customers for future Eris launches.

– Sagetech Avionics is a White Salmon WA-based company focused on avionics solutions for Uncrewed Aerial Systems (UAS).
– The company raised $12M in funding.
– The round was led by Due West Partners.
– The new investment will be used to expand its Engineering and Go-To-Market teams and accelerate its product roadmap, specifically UAS Detect and Avoid (DAA) capability and other related technologies.

– Anduril Industries, an Irvine, Calif.-based defense technology company, raised $450m in Series D funding and a post-money valuation of $4.6b.
– The round was led by Elad Gil with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, 8VC, Founders Fund, General Catalyst, Lux Capital, Valor Equity Partners, and D1 Capital Partners.
– The new investment will be used to develop advanced technologies (AI, computer vision, sensor fusion, optics and automation) to solve some of the most important & complex national security challenges.

– Hydrosat, a geospatial data analytics startup, raised $5m in seed funding.
– The round was led by Cultivation Capital’s newly launched Geospatial Technologies Fund with participation by Freeflow Ventures, the Yield Lab, Expon Capital, Techstars, Industrious Ventures, Synovia Capital, and the University of Michigan.
– The company plans to launch its first satellite in 2022.

– Phase Four announced a $26m Series B investment round.
– The round was led by New Science Ventures LLC.
– The new capital follows a year of significant growth for Phase Four.
– NSV is a leading venture capital firm focused on building companies that leverage breakthrough science to create extraordinary value.

– Jet Edge International, a Los Angeles CA & New York-based full-service private aviation company, raised $150M in funding.
– The round was led by KKR.
– The company intends to use the funds to develop technology to support clients, invest in marketing and talent, and accelerate the progress of business lines including the aircraft sales division, Jet Edge Partners and roll out the AdvantEdge charter management platform nationwide.

– Relativity Space, a space venture that got its start in Seattle and is now working on 3D-printed rockets in California, says it’ll build a bigger launch vehicle with the aid of a similarly huge $650 million Series E funding round.
– The startup says its fully reusable, two-stage Terran R rocket will be capable of launching more than 20,000 kilograms (44,000 pounds) to low Earth orbit.
– The company says the newly announced funding round will help the company scale up production of the Terran R rocket at its 3D-printing facility in Long Beach, Calif.

– LeoLabs from Menlo Park, CA provides low Earth orbit (LEO) mapping and Space Situational Awareness (SSA) services.
– The company raised $65M in funding from Insight Partners and existing investor Velvet Sea Ventures.
– The new investment will be aimed at accelerating the company’s SaaS Platform and global radar network.

– Airspace Link, a drone management platform, raised $10m in Series A funding.
– The round was joined by Altos Ventures, Thales Group, and others.
– The company plans to use the additional funds to expand its domestic offering and expand overseas.

– Electric aviation startup Beta Technologies closed a $368m Series A funding round.
– The funding round was led by Fidelity Management & Research Company, with undisclosed additions from Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund.
– The company’s valuation is now at $1.4 billion.

– Alba Orbital, a Scottish company, raised $3.4m funding.
– The round was led by Scottish Investment Bank and joined by other investors.
– The company plans to launch dozens more satellites.

– Universal Hydrogen announced its $20.5M Series A financing round.
– The round was led by Playground Global with the investor syndicate comprising Fortescue Future Industries, Coatue, Global Founders Capital, Plug Power, Airbus Ventures, JetBlue Technology Ventures, Toyota AI Ventures, Sojitz Corporation, and Future Shape.
– The company is building a fuel distribution network that connects hydrogen production directly to the airplane using modular capsules that are transported using the existing freight network, avoiding the need for costly new pipelines, storage facilities, and fuel trucks.
– First commercial flights are planned no later than 2025, with operating costs equivalent to those of conventional hydrocarbon-burning airplanes and decreasing rapidly thereafter.

– Satellite Vu, a satellite imaging company, raised $5m in funding.
– The round was led by Seraphim Capital and joined by U.K. government.
– The company plans to launch its first satellite in 2022.

– Xwing, a San Francisco, CA-based automation company for aviation, raised $40m in funding at a $400m valuation.
– The round was led by Blackhorn Ventures, with participation from ACME Capital, Loup Ventures, R7 Partners, Eniac Ventures, Alven Capital and Array Ventures.
– The new investment will be used to scale the company’s innovation and team.

– Pixxel closed a $7.3M seed round with new capital from Omnivore VC, Techstars, and others, who are joining alongside Lightspeed Ventures, Blume, growX, Ryan Johnson, former President at Planet Labs, and additional industry leaders.
– The company’s first hyperspectral satellite will launch within the next few months.
– Compared to the common multispectral satellites prevalent today, Pixxel’s hyperspectral earth-imaging satellites are able to beam down 50x more information by capturing light reflected in far more detail and using narrower bands beyond just red, green and blue.
– This technology allows Pixxel to capture exact chemical signatures and offers more accurate solutions to previously unsolvable issues in industries such as agriculture, energy and environmental conservation.

– American Express Ventures makes strategic investment in Boom Supersonic to fuel the future of travel.
– The funds will support the continued development of Boom’s flagship product, the supersonic airliner Overture.
– Boom is building the world’s fastest and most sustainable commercial airliner.
– Overture is slated to roll out in 2025 and begin commercial flights by 2029.
– Boom has $6 billion in pre-orders of Overture aircraft.

– Venus Aerospace closed on a $3m round of seed funding led by Prime Movers Lab, an investor in breakthrough scientific startups.
– The funding will go to the development of reusable and efficient advanced rocket engines and aerodynamic technologies.
– With the new round of funding, Venus Aerospace will build out its Mach 12 hypersonic aircraft designed to travel at the edge of space, allowing passengers to go from Los Angeles to Tokyo in one hour.

– Volocopter is a Bruchsal, Germany-based urban air mobility (UAM) company.
– Company raised €200m in Series D funding.
– The round was led by new investors funds managed by BlackRock, Atlantia S.p.A., Avala Capital, Continental AG, Jericho Capital, NTT via its venture capital arm, Tokyo Century, a Japanese leasing company, family offices, and existing investors Geely, Daimler, DB Schenker, Intel Capital, btov Partners, Team Europe, and Klocke Holding.

– Aerovel, a drone company, raised $2.4m funding.
– The round was led by undisclosed investors.
– Aerovel is developing a new drone it calls the Flexrotor, which is designed to take off and land vertically, like a helicopter, then transition into horizontal flight using wings for lift, like an airplane.
– Aerovel says the Flexrotor can stay aloft for up to 32 hours — a record for drones in its class — providing overhead surveillance for military, law enforcement or other civilian uses.

– First Resonance Raises Fresh Round of Funding to Meet Growing Demand for Factory Operating System from New Generation of World-Changing Manufacturers
– Blue Bear Capital Led Funding Round
– Funds Raised to Date to More than $5 Million
– The new capital will be used to expand the First Resonance team to support continued development of its unique approach to manufacturing, informed by the team’s background at SpaceX, NASA, Zoox, Toyota, and more.
– Growing list of customers which includes Joby Aviation, Matternet, Cobalt Robotics, and Astra are not only inventing new types of products but also new ways to build them.
– The First Resonance Factory Operating System, ion, takes a fresh perspective on manufacturing.

– Axiom Space raised $130m funding.
– The funding was led by C5 Capital and joined by Declaration Partners, Moelis Dynasty Investments, The Venture Collective, Hemisphere Ventures, and Starbridge Venture Capital.
– Axiom Space is building the world’s first commercial space station.
– The company’s president and CEO Michael Suffredini said the company’s valuation now exceeds $1 billion.

– Axiom Space, a space startup, raised $130m in Series B funding.
– The round was led by C5 Capital and joined by other investors.
– The company plans to launch its first private astronaut mission to the ISS in January 2019.

– Skyworks Aeronautics announced a $100m investment commitment from GEM Global Yield LLC SCS (“GEM”), the Luxembourg based private alternative investment group.
– Under the agreement, GEM will provide Skyworks Aeronautics with a Share Subscription Facility of up to $100 million for a 36-month term following a public listing of the Skyworks Aeronautics common stock.
– Skyworks Aeronautics will control the timing and maximum amount of drawdowns under this facility and has no minimum drawdown obligation.
– Concurrent with a public listing of Skyworks Aeronautics shares, Skyworks Aeronautics will issue warrants to GEM to purchase up to 3% of the common stock of the company.