Gilmour Space Technologies secures $61m in funding for 50 new jobs
A Gold Coast company has received a windfall from private investors to continue its quest of shooting for the stars.
Gold Coast
Don't miss out on the headlines from Gold Coast. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A Gold Coast company has received a windfall from private investors to continue its quest of shooting for the stars.
Helensvale-based Gilmour Space Technologies plans to almost double its staff in the next 12 months after five Australian and US firms tipped in $61m to help it get rockets into space.
The deal is believed to be one of the largest private equity investments raised by a space company in Australia.
Gilmour Space Technologies says it will enable them to put on an extra 50 staff and its hopes to have its first rocket into space by the end of 2022.
“This new investment will give us runway to launch our first orbital rocket in 2022,” CEO and co-founder Adam Gilmour said.
“It will help us develop multiple Eris vehicles, grow our team from 70 to 120 in the next 12 months, build our sovereign space manufacturing capability for rockets and satellites, and facilitate a commercial spaceport in Queensland, where we hope to launch the world’s first hybrid rocket to space.”
The seed capital was secured from international investors Fine Structure Ventures, Australian venture capital firms Blackbird and Main Sequence, and Australian superannuation funds HESTA, Hostplus, and NGS Super.
It brings the company’s total funds raised to date to $87m.
Fine Structure managing partner and lead investor Brett Rome said it was his company’s first investment in an Australian company.
“The team at Gilmour is building the leading sovereign launch company in Australia, and using their innovative hybrid rocket engine to efficiently address the growing global demand for putting satellites into orbit,” he said.
The company is yet to put a rocket into space but has performed several tests in remote corners of the state.
In 2020 it successfully completed the first of a number of firing tests that involved rocket engines firing in a static position for 45 seconds.
In the past two years it has secured several major deals while building up to its first suborbital flight.
In April, Gilmour was contracted by South Australian company Fleet Space Technologies to launch six Fleet Space Centauri nanosatellites on its Eris rockets into space in 2023.
Last year, Gilmour announced it had signed a memorandum of understanding with global aerospace giant Northrop Grumman Corporation to develop Australia’s space capabilities.
Northrop will join Gilmour Space as an industry partner on its cooperative research centre project to develop composite rocket tanks for low-cost space transport.
Coast space company teams trailblazer to launch satellites
A GOLD Coast space exploration company has teamed up with another trailblazer – South Australia’s Fleet Space Technologies – to launch six satellites into orbit.
Helensvale-based Gilmour Space Technologies’ CEO Adam Gilmour said the contract to launch six Fleet Space Centauri nanosatellites on its Eris rockets in 2023 was a “great example of how Australian space companies are scaling and partnering to compete in the global space market”.
Gilmour Space and Fleet Space were the first two Australian space start-ups to raise venture capital funding in Australia. Formed before the Australian Space Agency, the companies were seeded by Sydney-based venture capital firm Blackbird Ventures.
Fleet Space CEO Flavia Tata Nardini said the launch would involve an Australian-built payload in an Australian-built satellite on an Australian-built rocket.
The announcement followed the release of the Federal Government’s Modern Manufacturing Strategy and Space National Manufacturing Priority Roadmap. It seeks to develop sovereign capabilities in space manufacturing, including satellites and launch vehicles.
“The announcement is the beginning of an ongoing launch service relationship as we work towards our planned constellation of 140 satellites,” she said.
“We are building a strong portfolio of launch service partners, and we are very excited to have Gilmour Space as one of them.
“As a country, we are highly reliant on space technologies from other nations and it’s time to realise that we can have critical sovereign capabilities in satellite development and launch here in Australia.”
Mr Gilmour said COVID-19 had shown the importance of a country having access to and control over its own technology.
Last year Gilmour announced it had signed a memorandum of understanding with global aerospace giant Northrop Grumman Corporation to develop Australia’s space capabilities.
Northrop will join Gilmour Space as an industry partner on its cooperative research centre project to develop composite rocket tanks for low-cost space transport.
Ice addict’s dad pleads: ‘Lock up my daughter or people will die’
An angry and frustrated Gold Coast father has slammed Queensland’s “revolving door” justice system.
Man left with life-threatening injuries in Gold Coast stabbing
A father of five has learned his fate for his role in a violent confrontation on a suburban street that left one man with “imminently life-threatening” injuries.