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XMeet the 10 Startups in Techstars' 2021 Space Accelerator Class
Samson Amore
Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter @Samsonamore.
Techstars' Space Accelerator took off this week with its third class of space-related companies that make everything from AI-powered smart cameras to technology that can anticipate celestial collisions.
The 10 startups selected for the competitive four-month program are based across the U.S. and Australia and will work with Techstars on a mostly remote basis.
All are developing technology with multiple uses in space and will receive a $120,000 investment in addition to access to Techstars' expanding network of mentors.
That network includes aerospace experts at the Pasadena-based NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Participating companies include Lockheed Martin, Arrow Electronics, SAIC and Israel Aerospace Industries.
"Alumni from our previous cohorts are launching space systems and infrastructure, raising tens of millions of dollars in venture capital as well as receiving lucrative contracts from both government and commercial customers," said Jonathan Fentzke, the program's managing director.
The program will culminate in a demo day on Sept. 2 where the startups will show off their work in hopes of winning potential investors or clients.
Fentzke noted that while no companies in this year's cohort are based in LA, Techstars still has partners mentors and investors based here.
"As it turns out the four companies in California out of 10 are not based in L.A. today, but will likely have a presence over time," Fentzke told dot.LA.
Here's a look at the 10 companies selected for this year's Techstars Space Accelerator.
Hyperkelp
LOCATION: San Clemente, Ca.
CEO: Graeme Rae
Founded by maritime engineer Dr. Graeme Rae, Hyperkelp is building buoys that aren't your average fishing bobber. Its tech can collect and transmit data about the surrounding ocean and incoming payloads from space. The company says its goal is to create a network of the buoys around the ocean to help aerospace launch companies stream data from anywhere around the world.
Hyperspec.ai
LOCATION: San Francisco, CA. and Tel Aviv, Israel
CEO: Ohad Levi
Hyperspec.ai makes smart cameras that run on artificial intelligence. The company's CEO Sravan Puttagunta previously worked in HP's engineering department. In a nutshell, Hyperspec's cameras are made to create accurate mapping and object tracking in real time, with the goal of being used on self-driving cars and other autonomous vehicles.
Nicslab
LOCATION: Sydney, Australia
CEO: Dr. Andri Mahendra
Nicslab develops technology called the "source measurement system" that uses quantum computing to help organizations optimize their internet speeds and make them faster. Its current clients include the University of Oxford, HP Labs and Mitsubishi Electric.
Pierce Aerospace
LOCATION: Indianapolis, In.
CEO: Aaron Pierce
Pierce Aerospace makes software that helps autonomous drones identify objects and payloads. It argues that this software is critical to the development of the drone industry -- after all, it can be pretty scary if a drone goes rogue because it can't see where it's going. In 2019 the company received a roughly $50,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to continue work on its flagship product, the Flight Portal ID system, which the DoD wants to use on its Unmanned Aircraft Systems.
Pixspan
LOCATION: Rockville, MD.
CEO: Michael Rowny
Pixspan develops a system that lets large files be transferred from different storage locations (like hardware or the cloud) at rapid speeds -- sometimes up to 5 times faster than average, it reports. It's compatible with several app programming interfaces, the main one being Amazon Web Services.
QuSecure
LOCATION: San Mateo, Ca.
CEO: Dave Krauthamer
QuSecure is a security company that focuses on protecting government and corporate systems from hacks. Specifically, its software works to keep encrypted data from being stolen and decrypted by quantum computers, which can steal and read valuable information at rapid speed. Its customers include Google and Amazon.
SCOUT
LOCATION: Alexandria, Va.
CEO: Eric Ingram
Scout -- also known as Scout Space -- develops software that helps spacefaring companies visualize what's going on in the great beyond and avoid casualties, like crashes with other spacecraft, satellites or debris. The company was founded in 2019 and says its name is an acronym for helping Spacecraft Observe and Understand Things around them.
SeaSatellites
LOCATION: San Diego, CA.
CEO: Mike Flanigan
As the name suggests, SeaSatellites is building unmanned vessels that work as satellites for the ocean and have a wide array of potential uses, from environmental data collection to communications. Similar to their skyward counterparts, SeaSatellites' tech can be controlled from anywhere and are designed to carry payloads on long missions.
Xairos
LOCATION: Denver, CO.
CEO: David Mitlyng
This company's name is Greek to us -- literally. A nod to the Greek god of opportune time, Kairos, is an appropriate name for this startup using quantum mechanics to bring GPS-type technology to areas of the globe without internet access.
Thermexit
LOCATION: Boston, MA.
CEO: Katie Willgoos
Thermexit is the only company in this year's Space Accelerator cohort that's led by a woman. CEO Katie Willgoos joined the company in March and helps the company create and sell its main product, Theremexit Pads, which are tiny thermal sensing sticky pads that can be placed on circuit boards and inside computers.
Correction: An earlier version of this post stated this is Techstars' second space accelerator cohort. It's the accelerator's third such class. It also, misnamed the CEO of Hyperspec.ai.
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Samson Amore
Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He holds a degree in journalism from Emerson College. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter @Samsonamore.
https://twitter.com/samsonamore
samsonamore@dot.la
'Everything That Flies Will be 3D Printed in 20 Years': Relativity's CEO On How Private Biz is Changing the Space Race
12:26 PM | March 05, 2020
Photo by Spencer Rascoff
Relativity Space co-founder Tim Ellis said Thursday that he expects that 20,000 satellites will launch in the next five years, representing a $25 billion market for the 3D rocket printer to compete in.
The company, which recently announced it is moving into a new headquarters complex in Long Beach, is currently building its first rocket, which is expected to launch next year. His goal is to make the company a strong competitor in the $350 billion space economy against bigger rivals like Space X and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin.
Ellis told an audience at the Montgomery Summit in Santa Monica that private companies are paving the way for cheaper and more efficient ways of getting satellites into orbit in an aerospace industry dominated by legacy giants like Boeing.
"We still use the same tools in aerospace that owe did sixty years ago," he said. "The aerospace industry just hasn't had a renaissance yet."
Ellis said his rockets, made using giant 3D printers, builds components with 1,000 parts in two to six months. Meanwhile, traditional rocket building uses about 100,000 parts and can take up to 48 months.
Relativity's Terran 1 rocket can be built in about 60 days, he said. The company counts Mark Cuban and Tribe Capital among its backers, and has raised $185 million in venture funding. Ellis expects the industry to flourish as manufacturing shifts away from traditional methods.
"Everything that flies will be 3D printed in 20 years," he said.
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Joe Bel Bruno
Joe Bel Bruno is dot.LA's editor in chief, overseeing newsroom operations and the organization's editorial team. He joins after serving as managing editor of Variety magazine and as senior leadership in spots at the Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal and Associated Press. He's a veteran journalist that loves breaking big stories, living back in L.A., a good burrito and his dog Gladys — not necessarily in that order.
Space City – Long Beach? Relativity's HQ Move Bolsters Aerospace Liftoff
02:58 PM | February 28, 2020
Image courtesy of Wikimedia
Space City – Long Beach?
The oceanside city, known by tourists as the home of the Queen Mary, scored another win as it competes with Houston and Cape Canaveral as a hub for the new privately-led space race. Relativity Space, a five-year-old rocket maker, is opening a new 120,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Long Beach that bolsters the city's economic ambitions.
Relativity joins Virgin Orbit, Google-backed SpinLaunch, and others that established headquarters in Long Beach. Relativity's Friday announcement that its relocating from Los Angeles is another step in reviving the city's reputation as an aerospace hub.
"We were in danger of losing the backbone of the aerospace economy," said Long Beach Economic Development Director John Keisler about the region once dominated by names like Boeing, McDonnell Douglas and Northrop Grumman. Now, he believes there's "really crazy stuff that's going on here."
Indeed, Relativity's mission is to revolutionize spaceflight by building the world's first 3D-printed rocket. CEO and co-Founder Tim Ellis, an alum of the Jeff Bezos-led space company Blue Origin, wants to eventually automate rocket-making on Mars. He's "confident our autonomous factory will become the future technology stack for the entire aerospace industry."
His company joins a host of others that have set up beachheads in the city. This is part of a years-long push by Long Beach, 23 miles from downtown Los Angeles, to reshape itself after the 2015 closing of Boeing's massive C-17 plant. The last commercial airplane in Southern California was made in the plant — and, when it shuttered, pundits and economists declared the end of an era.
Long Beach's Boeing plant, closed in 2015, generated $7.5 billion worth of supply chain orders in California.media.defense.gov
The Boeing plant generated $7.5 billion worth of supply chain orders in California. When they left, there was a massive gap in the local aerospace industry. The city was given a $3.9 million economic transition grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to help incentivize new growth.
The five-year-old grant appears to be paying off in transitioning Long Beach into a high-tech hub. The city helped universities keep alive programs that fed into the industry and make sure suppliers didn't disappear. Now, Long Beach has become a haven for startups vying for a piece of the multi-billon-dollar space industry.
Rocket Lab announced in January that the satellite launcher will move headquarters to Long Beach from Huntington Beach. The company, which has a New Zealand subsidiary, said it will bring "Mission Control Center capabilities" to the city. Mayor Robert Garcia said at the time the expansion of Rocket Lab will help "a city with an aerospace history as rich as ours support new jobs and economic growth."
Bigger players remain Virgin Orbit, a key part of Richard Branson's space ambitions. The company is in the midst of debuting its LauncherOne rocket that sends small satellites into space. The orbital launcher could pave the way for Branson to further invest in the satellite business. A ten minute walk away down Long Beach's E. Conant Street is the headquarters for Spinlaunch. The startup's goal is to use centrifugal force to hurl rockets from Earth.
"This is really reshaping the Long Beach economy. This is going to be a 20-year push to builthis out," he said. "They are in a race to space they have to get the market as fast as possible. their investors are putting in hundreds of millions of dollars. And we are the easiest place to do it,"
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Rachel Uranga
Rachel Uranga is dot.LA's Managing Editor, News. She is a former Mexico-based market correspondent at Reuters and has worked for several Southern California news outlets, including the Los Angeles Business Journal and the Los Angeles Daily News. She has covered everything from IPOs to immigration. Uranga is a graduate of the Columbia School of Journalism and California State University Northridge. A Los Angeles native, she lives with her husband, son and their felines.
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