SATELLITE’s fourth Startup Space competition showcased ten hungry entrepreneurs with ideas ranging from how to design space helmets to how to use Earth Observation (EO) data for global trade. Each had just five minutes to make their pitch before a panel of investment firm judges. Ultimately, contestant Daniel Turner’s pitch for TRAXyl, a company that places fiber optic cables directly onto pavement, came away with the win.
Turner, whose company is the first technology focused on rural broadband to win Startup Space, will receive private pitch meetings with the judges’ firms, a trophy, free access to future SATELLITE shows, and an interview feature in Via Satellite. Coincidentally, he is the third winner in a row named “Daniel.”
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Raphael Roettgen, one of the competition judges, was impressed by the diversity of the subsectors that competitors represented, and that companies came from all over the world. “If we want to successfully commercialize space this is precisely what we need — entrepreneurs everywhere working on all of the potential space business opportunities,” Roettgen said.
In the seed funding round, five competitors included Taqadam ($1 million ask), Neutron Star Systems ($3.5 million), Arch Rift ($250,000), Sateliot ($2 million), and AnsuR Technologies ($3 million). Three major market segments were represented: space hardware, software services, and ground services. Arch Rift, founded by Emily Kourtzen, focuses on user-friendly space helmets adaptable for emergency and commercial use in space and mining situations.
In the Series A round, Satellite Vu asked for $2.6 million; Eighth Continent Technologies planned 16 satellites at $7 million each; Intergalactic Education asked for $500,000; and TRAXyl asked for no funding. TRAXyl’s technology paints fiber optics on pavement and asphalt for $9 per foot, has secured two patents, eight pilot projects, and a $1.44 million Air Force contract. Turner claimed: “We cannot make it fail.”
Competition judge Rafferty Jackson said: “The competitors are more impressive every year,” setting up a challenge for Startup Space 2021. VS
