York Space Systems has become the latest ‘unicorn’ in the space industry, as the maker of small satellites was estimated to have breached a US$1bn valuation as it completed a new funding round.
The Denver-based company, which has developed a number of innovations in its design and manufacturing processes, has received new investments in the hundreds of millions of dollars, with private equity firm AE Industrial Partners buying a majority stake.
York’s new valuation based on the investment is $1.125bn, according to media reports citing sources familiar with the deal.
AEI, a specialist aerospace investor, announced yesterday that it has agreed to acquire the majority stake, alongside certain BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) private equity funds.
Amounts and terms of the investment were not revealed.
It comes on the heels of some sizeable contracts that York has won, with a US$382mln contract gained with the US Department of Defense’s Space Development Agency in April to build over 40 satellites for its internet-in-space constellation.
This following a US$94mln contract in 2020 for an initial 10 low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites, which are expected to be delivered this year.
York says its LEO, geosynchronous equatorial orbit (GEO), and moon-orbiting spacecraft are designed to “balance scalability, manufacturability, and efficiency to meet the schedule-driven, high-volume demand for customers' small satellite constellations”.
It recently opened a manufacturing facility in its home city that it claims gives it the capacity and ability to produce over 750 small satellites per year.
AEI partner Kirk Konert said York is the “largest independent small satellite manufacturer” and the investment “represents a unique opportunity to serve the fast-growing LEO commercialization and national security markets”.
York founder and chief executive office Dirk Wallinger said the funds would be used to “rapidly scale the business”.