Huge Rush to Raise Funds by Japanese Ventures

This year the Japanese space ventures such as ispace, Axelspace, Infostellar or Umitron, are raising funds to accelerate their business one after another. After a year of such a rapid change, Sorabatake will update and introduce Space Development x Venture Companies List Japan Version, 2017 which we have released before!

Venture Companies Providing Rocket Development and Launch Services

Outside of Japan, the development of a new rocket technology is extremely active, especially in United States. In fact, there are those in Japan who are making a strong challenge in this development. As the launch price becomes cheaper due to rocket technological development, carrying satellites to space and improvements in services that use satellites are getting easier and easier.

◆Interstellar Technologies

Company URL: Interstellar Technologies Inc.
Founded in 2013, this company became a topic of conversation because of the famous IT entrepreneur Takafumi Horie, known as “Horiemon” became a sponsor. The company is developing the smallest low-cost liquid-fuel rocket in the world which can carry satellites to space. If it is able to take things to space easily and with low cost, this will again accelerate the growth in this industry.

◆PD Aerospace

Company URL: PD Aerospace, LTD.
Founded in 2007. Designed for a slightly distant future in a time when people and objects can easily move back and forth between space and earth, this company is developing an aircraft-type reusable space vehicle. By making it reusable, it can be low cost and eco-friendly, and enable the launch of satellites to be extremely cheap and easy if this future becomes a reality.

Venture Companies with Satellite Remote Sensing Service

By using satellites, it becomes possible to observe earth in a truly wide range of methods. More companies are challenging the services that makes life on earth more convenient and affluent using technologies of such a satellite.

◆Axelspace

会社URL：Axelspace Corporation
Founded in 2008. The company develops, builds, and operates micro-satellites which can carry out a variety of missions at low cost and in a short time period. Aiming for services in which users only require common data without the need of owning their own satellite, the company is planning to launch and operate 50 satellites by 2022. By making it possible to observe a wide area of the earth more easily, it can expect to contribute to industries such as agriculture, forestry, and resource development.

◆Space Shift

Company URL: Space Shift Inc.
The company acquires big data using satellites. From the information from radar satellites unaffected by the weather, it can analyze the movements of people and cars on the earth 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. By comparing the movement of people and cars with economic data, it is promoting the use of satellite information as a new fully accurate economic indicator.

◆Umitron

Company URL:Umitron K.K.
Founded in 2016. The company provides aquaculture support service utilizing satellite data. By analyzing fish shoal behavior and designing optimal feeding amounts and timing, it is trying to reduce the rising cost of the aquaculture business.

◆Vision Tech

Company URL:Vision Tech Inc.
The company analyzes satellite remote sensing data. Aimed at agriculture, such as for the purpose of stable rice production, it provides the AgriLook service, which can grasp the growing conditions of rice using satellite data.

Venture Company Providing Communication Service Using Satellite

◆Magellan Systems Japan

Company URL: Magellan Systems Japan, Inc.
The company provides an ultra-sensitive and highly precise measurement system from satellites. It is applied to electric wheelchairs in facilities such as hospitals, location management or automatic operations for forklifts, and automatic operations in industrial or agricultural machine, etc

Venture Company Observing and Collecting Space Debris

As the space business grows, more unuse of non-functioning satellites or rockets called space debris float in space, making space full of waste.

◆Astroscale

Company URL: Astroscale Holdings
A venture company that develops technologies to remove space debris and protect the space environment. By monitoring space debris to sizes that are untrackable from earth, the company aims to remove debris to eventually preserve space environment.

Venture Company Providing Satellite Operation Service

As rocket becomes less expensive and services using satellites expand, it is necessary to improve the operational environment of satellites. In order to activate developments in the space industry more fully, it will be an invaluable business to improve the space environment.

◆Infostellar

Company URL: Infostellar Inc.
The company provides an antenna sharing service aiming to provide the infrastructure that improves communication between satellites and earth. Anyone can communicate with satellites without the their own antenna, this service can lower the hurdle of anyone entering the satellite system market.

The company was also awarded a grant in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Innovation Challenge Program presented by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC).

Venture Company Developing Space Resource

Resource exploration is no longer a particular opportunity on earth. Some companies plan to collect resources from planets other than earth to utilize information from them for activities on earth and in space.

◆ispace/ HAKUTO

Company URL: ispace, inc.
Currently participating as team HAKUTO in the lunar exploration race, Google Lunar X PRIZE. In order to find new and usable resources, the company aims in resource exploration on the moon.

Space x Entertainment Venture Company

◆ALE

Company URL: ALE Co., LTD.
The company aims to provide an entertainment service that produces artificial shooting stars using the heat of the atmosphere. Isn’t it fantastic to be able to produce shooting stars whenever you want?

Venture Company Using Space

Moreover, companies are attempting to make people’s lives more affluent by using the characteristics of other planets and the void in space itself.

◆PeptiDream

Company URL: PeptiDream Inc.
By using the microgravity environment of space, we can produce high-quality protein without precipitation or convection of any components in a solution when growing protein crystals.

PeptiDream is now carrying out High-Quality Protein Crystal Growth Experiment at Kibo, a Japanese Experimental Module (JEM) for the International Space Station (ISS).

Venture Company Promoting Business Development of Space

◆SpaceBD

Company URL: Space BD Inc.
It is a trading company specialized in space, developing import/export of parts and components in space equipment. It is also involved in the satellite release business at the ISS by making use of the former experiences at the trading company.

Summary and Future Prospects of Space Business Started in Japan

The space business in Japan use to be mainly manufacturing, but the move in expanding space utilization has been intensified as trading companies or data platforms have entered the market.

Now is a time of change due to artificial intelligence and data analysis technology, so the key to success in the space business is to provide a service thinking ahead.

Please check overseas edition from the List of Space Ventures the U.S. version, 2017,

We will update the contents soon.