Nizel Pradhan
Led by Alpine Space Ventures Partner and former SpaceX VP, Bulent Altan, company to leverage funds to meet increased demand of smallsat focused solutions
Morpheus Space, the leading provider of in-space mobility systems, today announced the close of a $28M Series A funding round led by space exclusive VC, Alpine Space Ventures. Alpine was joined by Morpheus Ventures, and existing investors – Vsquared Ventures, Lavrock Ventures, Airbus Ventures, In-Q-Tel, Pallas Ventures, and Techstars Ventures who returned from the company’s Seed Round.
Morpheus Space will leverage the financing round to expand and improve its manufacturing capabilities, namely, with a new factory in Dresden, Germany. The decision was prompted by a rapidly increasing demand for electric propulsion devices as brands mobilized around the creation of small satellite focused constellations. In just two years, the number of small satellite launches has jumped up nearly 450% from what it was in 2019, now sitting close to 1,800 annually. As entities continue to mobilize around a commercial future for Space, that number is expected to increase further as smaller space economies and new startups get up to speed on modern satellite mobility protocols and practices. With current constrictions to the supply chain, and the residual effects of COVID, satellite companies have found it increasingly more difficult to find partners that can meet their scaling needs in a short timeframe. The fund raise will enable Morpheus to expand and futureproof its production capabilities to a new level that can comfortably meet current and projected demands.
“The industry has seen significant growth in the last few years, unlike anything we’ve experienced before, and it has presented numerous opportunities for Morpheus to succeed and grow. However, we’ve also seen with our competitors how it presents multiple challenges and lost opportunities for those that cannot keep up. Both the blessings and problems associated with the space industry right now can be attributed to scalability,” said Morpheus Space CEO and co-founder, Daniel Bock.
“To succeed, we need to rely on each other and help solve the problems of our partners to maintain growth. With this funding round, we will be able to produce high quality hardware on a much larger scale that the industry needs and we look forward to how it will open doors for us and others in the future”, asserted István LÅ‘rincz, co-founders and President of Morpheus Space.
After officially launching in 2018 Morpheus completed their seed round in 2020, since then the company has seen their headcount increase by 8x and YoY number of contracts increase by over 250%. Although demand has dramatically improved, the company still runs a small, tight knit operation of mostly engineers and software developers. A portion of the funding will be used to expand staffing across multiple disciplines and levels, with the goal of bringing their final headcount to over 100 people across multiple time zones within the next 6 to 12 months.
“Morpheus Space ‘s closing of their impressive Series A financing round in the context of an uncertain global environment, is a testimony of the team’s stringent technical and commercial execution,” said Bulent Altan, Investment Partner at Alpine Ventures and CEO of Mynaric. “As Alpine Space Ventures, we are proud to be the lead investor in their company’s series-A round enabling the Company to reach the production capabilities required to meet growing customer demand. Looking ahead, the five-year rule for post-mission disposal of LEO satellites, which is being proposed by the FCC, strongly confirms the company’s value proposition. Combined with the ever growing need to be maneuverable in LEO for debris and collision avoidance, we expect the demand for small to medium satellite propulsion to grow significantly. We are excited to support Morpheus Space on their journey.”
Garnering awards from NASA and others, Morpheus Space is one of the premier startups in the mobility space, bringing partners industry leading propulsion and artificial intelligence based satellite routing. In recent months they have worked with several space companies, including Spire Global, Antaris Space and Rocket Factory Augsburg with more on the horizon.
For more information about Morpheus and how to work with them, visit www.morpheus-space.com.
Morpheus Space is a leading provider of the most scalable and efficient spacecraft electric propulsion systems. Its technology disrupts the New Space industry by introducing Sphere Flow; a fusion between cutting edge electric propulsion and artificial intelligence enabling truly dynamic constellations. The solution package enables satellite service providers to operate entire constellations as one entity by utilizing the world’s smallest and most efficient space propulsion system servicing satellites <1Kg to >1000Kg. The Morpheus Space technology enables each satellite to perform countless orbital maneuvers, which allows the possibility of “objective first” mission planning with 100% automation. This provides a never-before-seen flexibility of satellite networks that is exploited by the A.I. to optimize the constellations and fulfill customer objectives.
