Grants take off: Gilmour Space Technologies $15m takeoff ahead of $50m raise

Gilmour Space technologies has $10m to splash on a new space facility between Brisbane and the Gold Coast under a new $52m federal grant.

Renders of the Advanced Space Manufacturing Network's upcoming facility.

One of the nation’s budding space start-ups has $10m to splash on the fit-out of two new facilities in southeast Queensland but says property market spikes are holding it and the industry back.

Venture capital-funded start-up Gilmour Space Technologies, run by former banker Adam Gilmour, has been eyeing several facilities in the area of the Yatala (about 40km south of Brisbane known for a popular 1950s drive-in cinema), to build the ­facilities.

However, fluctuating prices in the property market had resulted in movement stalling, with the local square metre rate having risen more than 50 per cent to “bubble levels”, Mr Gilmour said.

“We were getting quotes around $95 per square metre about halfway through last year, and the current cost is $150 per square metre. I think it’s just price gouging,” he said.

Mr Gilmour is seeking to build a common test and manufacturing ­facility for members of the Australian Space Manufacturing Network, as well as its own advanced manufacturing facility.

The $10m set to fit out the two new spaces forms part of a larger $156m ASMN project, which seeks to develop a network of space centres, manufacturing sites and launch facilities across the nation. The project has just had $52m signed off to spend on the project under the federal government’s Modern Manufacturing Initiative.

The rest of the funding will come from the Queensland government, Gilmour Space and ASMN partners, which counts several universities, engineering firms, space start-ups and businesses as members. Members would contribute between hundreds of thousands of dollars to the low millions, Mr Gilmour said.

Mr Gilmour, who visited Boston in the US last week, said his business would undertake a series D capital raise in the latter half of this year with a $50m target. The recent trip included meetings with investors.

“That’s one of the reasons why I’m in the US, as we need to do another capital raise. We are a rocket company and rocket companies are very good at spending money,” he said.

“We feel it’s a good time to raise more capital as there’s a lot of demand for launch vehicles right now.”

The upcoming southeast Queensland facilities will join the $15m Bowen Orbital Spaceport currently under construction in the Whitsunday region, which Mr Gilmour said was set to be completed within the next three months.

A drones-eye view of the Bowen Orbital Spaceport.

The Bowen Orbital Spaceport has been under way since June 2018, with construction set to be completed by about October.

The goal for the site is to get up to a bimonthly launch rate by 2025. It is mostly satellites that will be launched from the site.

Part of the current grant would also be used to help Gilmour Space Technologies develop a larger launch vehicle, Mr Gilmour said.

While the venture capital market had tightened over the past 12 months, Gilmour Space Technologies was confident it could raise new funding without issue. “The discussions I had with investors (in the US) were very positive,” Mr Gilmour said. “And the discussions I’ve been having with Australian investors are also increasingly becoming positive.”