Slingshot Aerospace Inc. has raised $41 million in a series A2 funding round led by Sway Ventures. Other participants included C16 Ventures, ATX Venture Partners, Lockheed Martin Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, and Draper Associates.
Slingshot Aerospace, which announced the funding last week, builds data and analytics products for space operations.
In addition to the equity funding, Horizon Technology Finance provided the El Segundo-based company with a venture loan.
The company gathers data from multiple sources, including its own Global Sensor Network and the Seradata SpaceTrak databases, to add more digital resources in the space industry. With these insights, Slingshot Aerospace customers can better make decisions and achieve clarity in the complexity of the space domain.
According to Seradata SpaceTrak, there are more than 10,000 satellites in orbit today, with more than 115,000 potentially in space by 2030. Slingshot maintains that this level of commercialization underscores the need for space surveillance, data tracking and purpose-built solutions.
“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 at Sway Ventures in a release. “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.”
Slingshot Aerospace used a portion of the new funds to finance the recent acquisitions of space manufacturer Numerica’s space domain awareness division and U.K.-based space research company Seradata. Renaissance Strategic Advisors acted as a strategic advisor on those deals.
Slingshot’s funding will also be used to grow the company’s customer base and product portfolio. The capital will go towards further building out Slingshot’s global sensor network of sensors that track satellites.
“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 chief executive at Slingshot Aerospace in a statement.
