• Orbex Space

  Participated · Equity · Dec 2020

  Orbex develops Prime, a 19-metre, two-stage rocket designed to carry small satellites to Low Earth Orbit. The company uses a renewable bio-fuel for Prime, which it says reduces carbon emissions compared with similarly sized rockets. Orbex holds two active patents across European countries and the United States covering parts of its rocket technology. With testing and launch now in its sights, the company plans to ramp up development and ensure readiness and scalability for its launch period. Management says it operates its own spaceport and aims to establish the UK as a hub for European orbital launch. The recent funding is intended to support the move into an operational launch phase and scale the business ahead of a planned Series D. Orbex develops Orbex Prime, a 19‑metre micro‑launcher fuelled by renewable bio‑propane and engineered to leave zero debris, aimed at launching small satellites into polar and sun‑synchronous orbits. The company will use a £3.3m award from the UK Space Agency (under ESA’s Boost! initiative) to build the Ultra‑Green Launch Complex at Sutherland Spaceport. The Sutherland site is planned to support up to 12 orbital launches per year, and Orbex says it already has several commercial launch contracts with satellite manufacturers. Orbex has headquarters, production and testing facilities in Scotland and design and testing facilities in Denmark, and is led by CEO Martin Coates. The company is funded by the Scottish National Investment Bank, BGF, Octopus Ventures, Heartcore Capital, the High‑Tech Gründerfonds and strategic investors Elecnor and Jacobs. Orbex has also won more than a dozen R&D contracts from bodies including the UK Space Agency, ESA and the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme. Orbex is developing Prime, a 19-meter two-stage microlauncher designed to deliver very small satellites (up to 180 kg) to low Earth orbit. Prime uses seven engines (six first-stage, one second-stage) and is fueled with a renewable bio-propane (Calor’s Futuria Liquid Gas), which Orbex says can cut launch carbon emissions by up to 96% versus similar rockets. The company rolled out its first full-scale prototype in May and is in a testing campaign ahead of a targeted first orbital launch as early as next year, with a planned 2023 mission carrying an experimental Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. payload. Orbex was one of two companies selected in 2018 to perform launches from the Space Hub Sutherland vertical spaceport and has applied for a U.K. launch license. To support the final push to launch it is increasing headcount by 50 and recently closed new funding to scale resources and future work. Orbex develops the Prime launch vehicle to deliver small satellites to orbit. Prime is being built at Orbex’s Forres design and manufacturing site, which currently employs about 40 people and is looking to expand. The company plans launches from Space Hub Sutherland, with the article noting plans to begin launch services for the ESA in 2022 and to send satellites from Sutherland in 2023. Orbex received a £6.0 million award from the European Space Agency’s Boost! initiative to support Prime development—the largest Boost! award so far. The Boost! programme provides co-funding, project guidance and access to ESA testing facilities and technical networks. Orbex also secured £18.0 million in December in a round led by BGF and Octopus Ventures to accelerate new UK space projects. Orbex develops the Orbex Prime, an environmentally sustainable, recoverable and reusable small-satellite launch vehicle that uses renewable bio-propane fuel, which the company says cuts CO2 emissions by 90% versus kerosene. The rocket is designed to leave no debris in the ocean or in orbit. Orbex is constructing the Prime at factories in Forres, near Inverness in Scotland, and in Copenhagen. The company plans to pursue launches from the Sutherland spaceport in Scotland, with a first launch slated for sometime in 2022. To support development it has received grants including €2.5 million from the European Horizon 2020 SME Instrument and £5.5 million from the UK Space Agency’s Launch UK programme in 2018. The company previously closed a £30 million funding round and most recently secured a $24 million financing to advance its roadmap.

No current team members are available.