Oversubscribed Series A2 Funding Raises for Orbital Tracking

Aerospace and Defense Review | Thursday, February 02, 2023

A growing base of commercial, civil, and defense customers will benefit from the funding, as well as the extension of Slingshots' commercialization efforts.

FREMONT, CA: An oversubscribed Series A2 funding round has raised $40.85 million for Slingshot Aerospace, which builds data and analytics products to make space operations safer. Among the participants in the round were Sway Ventures, ATX Venture Partners, Lockheed Martin Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, and Draper Associates, the global venture capital firm founded by prominent Silicon Valley venture capitalist Tim Draper. Slingshots' growth was accelerated by Horizon Technology Finance providing an equity loan and a venture loan.

Our successful funding round during a global economic downturn is validation that investors understand the urgent need for safe and sustainable spaceflight operations as activity in orbit outpaces current space traffic management constructs. said Melanie Stricklan, Co-founder and CEO, Slingshot Aerospace. Our mission is to ensure that our customers overcome those vulnerabilities and optimize their critical operations in orbit. We have an unprecedented opportunity in this next phase of growth as we continue to be a driving force to de-risk operations in the space revolution.

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One of the new funds was used by Slingshot Aerospace to finance Numerica's Space Domain Awareness division and Seradata's acquisitions, which helped Slingshot Aerospace distinguish its products as among the most robust and authoritative space situational awareness and traffic coordination solutions available on the market. The acquisitions were advised by Renaissance Strategic Advisors

Slingshot Aerospace continually makes strategic moves that demonstrate an unwavering commitment to making space safer for all of society, said Najib Khouri-Haddad, General Partner, Sway Ventures. The massive growth in space operations carries a significant risk as well as an opportunity. Slingshot has aggressively and creatively carved a path to build new technologies that solve critical challenges and greatly reduce risks in space. Our investment in Slingshot is an investment in the future of space as we know it.

Seradata SpaceTrak, a space object database developed by Slingshot Aerospace, estimates there will be more than 115,000 satellites in orbit by 2030. Space surveillance and tracking data of high quality and purpose-built solutions aimed at making space operations safer are necessary at this level of commercialization. 

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