New Zealand start-up Outlier Space has raised $US7.35 million ($A10.36 million) in a pre-seed fundraising round to develop commercial microgravity payload capsules which will be launched as satellites.
This is one of the largest pre-seed raises in New Zealand.
Outlier is developing the capsules to carry research or manufacturing payloads into space, where they will orbit for weeks to months before being returned safely to Earth. The technology platform is planned to provide pharmaceutical, biotechnology, advanced materials and other science customers reliable access to micro-gravity environments.
The fundraising round was led by GD1 (Global from Day One) and supported by Airtree Ventures, Icehouse Ventures, Investible, Side Stage Ventures, Wellington-based deep-tech venture firm Nova Threshold, and former US internet entrepeneur Brian Cartmell, now a Queenstown, South Island, resident.
The funding will be used to commercialise Outlier Space’s capsules which will be able to be carried into space on any available satellite launching rocket. The company is currently developing and qualifying its first capsule. A test flight is targeted for 2028.
Outlier Space’s founder and chief executive Jamie France spent ten years as an engineer with New Zealand-founded space launch company Rocket Lab.
“Our people have been at the forefront of numerous globally significant advances in space,” France said. “It shows that we have the talent to deliver a world-first commercial offering from New Zealand.”
France believes the timing is right for the launch of Outlier Space.
“The cost to orbit is at an all-time low,” he said. “The International Space Station, which has proved the science over the last three decades, is being decommissioned soon. We’re already seeing strong demand for a commercially viable, uncrewed commercial platform, which is what we are building.”
Co-managing partner of GD1, Vignesh Kumar, said his firm had followed France’s career for several years and was convinced of his ability to build a new space-tech company.
“With the International Space Station nearing end-of-life and the launch landscape evolving, the conditions for a commercial microgravity platform have never been stronger,” Kumar said.
Outlier Space’s potential customers are developers of new materials that demand a micro-gravity environment. Microgravity allows some compounds to behave in different ways than on Earth, enabling the formation of purer crystals and more uniform protein structures. Development processes that might take advantage of micro-gravity include drugs, next-generation semiconductors and human tissue products.
Image: Outlier Space founder Jamie France.