Apex Receives $16 Million Investment for Spacecraft Factory

Apex, a startup planning to mass-produce satellite buses, has raised $16 million to also fund the development of its first large-scale factory. Apex announced on 22 June that it had raised a Series A round led by venture firms Andreessen Horowitz and Shield Capital. The company has raised more than $ 27 million to date, including an initial round announced in October 2022.

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Apex

The funds will be used for what the company calls Factory One, a 4,600 square metre manufacturing facility in Los Angeles that the company will use to ramp up production of the Aries satellite bus. It is currently building its first Aries spacecraft company. It plans to increase production to five in 2024, 20 in 2025 and 100 in 2026. Ian Cinnamon, Apex's CEO, noted in an interview that the company was able to raise more money than originally planned for the Series A round due to strong investor interest. He noted that the fundraising environment for space companies has changed over the past year, both due to broader macroeconomic issues such as higher inflation and interest rates, and struggles between companies in the sector. This is driving investors towards companies with a short-term focus on products and services rather than revenue generation, he said.

Building the First Aries Satellite

Apex is building its first Aries satellite, "Call to Adventure", announced in April. This spacecraft remains on schedule for launch on the SpaceX Transporter-10 shared rideshare mission in early 2024. The announcement of the funding round and customers for its first mission came shortly after Apex introduced a tool on its website that allows customers to configure the satellites. The tool, similar to those used to order cars or computers, offers several options for power, communications and propulsion. And it lists the price of that option as well. Cinnamon said the company is offering this configuration tool because it plans to offer a limited number of options for satellites, which it likens to stock-keeping units, or SKUs, used in retail. Apex is also minimising the amount of customisation or non-recurring engineering (NRE) it offers to customers.

It was rolled out earlier in the month. He said "thousands" of people have tried the tool since it was launched, leading to enquiries from potential customers to verify that the prices quoted online were correct. It has not yet confirmed whether it has led to any orders. But he also noted that the company has sold part of the second set of five satellites it is building in 2024.