Shares of Japanese moon lander maker ispace Inc. went untraded on a glut of buy orders on their market debut as investors bet on the startup and the country’s space-development efforts.
(Bloomberg) — Shares of Japanese moon lander maker ispace Inc. went untraded on a glut of buy orders on their market debut as investors bet on the startup and the country’s space-development efforts.
Shares were quoted at ¥585, or more than twice the offering price of ¥254 at market close on Wednesday, according to the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The initial public offering had valued the Tokyo-based company at about ¥20 billion ($150 million), according to Bloomberg calculations.
The listing comes ahead of the highly-anticipated arrival of the company’s first lunar lander, which was launched via a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in December carrying two rovers and other payloads. The Hakuto-R Mission 1 lander, which lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida following multiple delays, is scheduled to touch down on the moon as early as this month.
SpaceX Launches Japanese Startup Ispace’s Lunar Lander to Moon
The landing would make the Japanese startup, led by Takeshi Hakamada, the maker of the world’s first commercial spacecraft to land on the moon. ispace plans to use a part of the proceeds to develop lunar landers and pay for launches that will be carried out by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
“A successful landing will help more people see that lunar businesses have become a reality,” Hakamada said at a news conference. “The attention we’re getting from so many shareholders and investors makes me resolve anew to be steadfast and diligent in expanding our business.”
The escalating US-China space rivalry and Musk’s ambitious Mars program have spurred startups around the world to chase new contracts to tap resources on the lunar surface and further out in space. Much like Musk’s dream for a Martian colony, ispace’s grand vision is to build a human settlement on the moon by 2040. But before that, it wants to become the lunar version of FedEx — earning money by ferrying scientific equipment and commercial goods to the moon.
Startup Plans Moon Landing With Goal to Become Space FedEx
ispace is “going where no Japanese company has gone before,” Mark Chadwick, an analyst who publishes on Smartkarma, wrote in a note last month. “The success of the IPO will provide ispace with the capital needed to support its lunar exploration initiatives and attract more investors to support its growth and development.”
The Mission 1 lander is part of a $73 million NASA contract won by a team led by Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Draper. The deal envisages end-to-end delivery services to the moon under the US Artemis program.
Prior to the IPO, in August 2021, ispace was valued at about ¥76 billion in a Series C equity financing. Led by Incubate Fund, the round brought in six other investors including SoftBank Group Corp.’s former chief strategy officer Katsunori Sago.
The loss-making company sees a road to profitability around its third mission, scheduled for as early as 2025 with a projected tenfold increase in payload. The company said it expects net loss to narrow to ¥7.9 billion in the current fiscal year from an expected ¥11.3 billion in the year ended in March on a six-fold increase in sales.
(Updates with executive comments from the fifth paragraph)
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