China’s Oriental Space on Wednesday announced raising 400 million yuan ($63 million) in its two tranches in its angel round, the first one being closed last year.
Investors who have backed the space technology firm are Matrix Partners China, tech bellwether Sequoia Capital China – they have led the angel+ round. Others who pumped in capital are Legend Star, ZhenFund, SEE Fund, Sanyi Heavy Industry, Turing Ventures, Chengdu Sanjiang Asset Management, Zhongwei Huitong Tiandi Network, and Z&H Investment.
The round also saw the participation of individual investors such as Wingtech Technology founder Xuezheng Zhang, Genharmony Capital founder Guobin Wang, CloudAlpha founder Jin Yang, according to a company statement.
Oriental Space, which is fully-owned by Shangdong Aerospace Technology Institute, is engaged in research and development of sustainable products and services in the aerospace industry.
Located in East China’s Yantai city, Oriental Space offers a gamut of satellite navigation services, and manufactures remote sensing systems, rocket launchers, among others.
The Chinese government has initiated favourable policies to give a facelift to the airspace industry – especially commercial aerospace. Early last year, National Development and Reform Commission added ‘satellite internet’ to a list of “new infrastructures” with a focus on 5G network, data centres and artificial intelligence.
The sector is increasingly evincing investor interest. Apart from Oriental Space, remote sensing satellite company Chang Guang Satellite Technology in December raised about $374.2 million in a pre-IPO round of financing from Matrix Partners China, the private equity unit of Haitong Innovation Capital Management, Shenzhen Capital, and CICC Capital, among others.
Meanwhile, China’s Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, which owns Volvo Cars and 9.7% in Daimler AG, in March said it would set up a commercial aerospace company in a bid to develop its satellite and communications technology.