Axiom Station - Courtesy Axiom Space
Axiom Space announced the close of their $130M Series B round this morning on CNBC. Starbridge, which has been an early investor in Axiom since their first outside round, participated through our SPV.
At Starbridge, we look for companies, such as Axiom, that are key to enabling the economic expansion of space. Axiom’s planned commercial extension of the US segment of the International Space Station (ISS) is a key piece of infrastructure that enables destinations for human spaceflight, research, manufacturing, satellite servicing, cloud computing, and cybersecurity markets.
The company's recently announced private mission to the ISS — a historic first — is another example of how entities that aren’t members of the ISS consortium are leveraging Axiom for their national space programs. Starbridge expects Axiom’s commercial crew missions to grow quickly over the next few years.
One of our core hypotheses for the commercial space industry is that in-space manufacturing is becoming a significant new market. The primary reason that it has not happened yet is the lack of commercially focused in-space manufacturing facilities. While the ISS is a phenomenal research platform, the industry needs dedicated development and manufacturing platforms to enable advances in pharmaceuticals, life sciences, additive manufacturing, and advanced ceramics and alloys. This is the next market Axiom will enable.
We are eagerly looking forward to the next few years with our friends at Axiom as we together help create our future in space!