The satellite repair startup Katalyst raises $12 million in private investment capital
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Katalyst’s proposed Swift rescue mission.
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The startup Katalyst, which aims to become a major robotic satellite servicing company and is about to launch its first mission to rescue NASA’s Gehrels-Swift space telescope, has just completed a funding round where it raised $12 million in private investment capital.
Katalyst Space raised $12 million to develop Katalyst’s Nexus robotic spacecraft and expand satellite servicing to multi-orbit, multi-mission operations. … It’s a space robot that will reposition, repair, refuel, refit satellites post-launch, and build the next generation of space infrastructure.
The funding round was led by Geodesic Capital, with significant participation from Fortitude Ventures and other investors.
Nexus’ first mission in 2027 will be to geosynchronous orbit, though it is not yet determined what satellite the spacecraft will service. The company appears to be in negotiation with both the government and commercial satellite operators.
Meanwhile, Katalyst’s Link spacecraft is now integrated within Northrop Grumman’s Pegasus rocket, awaiting a planned launch later this month. That rescue mission, only awarded to Katalyst by NASA in November 2025, will attempt to capture Gehrels-Swift, which has no capture mechanism, and raise its orbit.
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“””$12 million in private investment capital.”””
Was any of this investment capital from people who became wealthy with the SpaceX IPO?**
If Katalyst pulls this off, or, even if not 100% successful, succeeds in parts of the endeavor, more $$$ will flow.
More Capitalism in space!
**I don’t know if it has been part of the Behind The Black reporting, but I read that the huuuuuge SpaceX IPO was only 4% of the total shares of SpaceX. 96% is still in private hands. I wondered about those investors who, for years, have invested billions in SpaceX. They knew a good thing when they saw it, and are no doubt in it for the long haul.
Some of those investors have been such for more than 20 years and the long haul has been very kind to them. So much so that long term SpaceX investors bought $10 billion worth of the IPO shares to increase their holdings. If the next 20 years prove as multiplicative of value as the last 20, their smiles will only get bigger.
And I am now one of them, in a microscopic way. Couldn’t buy into the IPO at the strike price, but bought a few shares on the open market shortly afterward. I don’t care about quarterly financials, the composition of the Board of Directors is fine with me and Elon’s dominance of voting rights is too. I want him in uncontested charge and to keep doing exactly what he’s been doing since the get-go. The Wall Streeters can go pound sand.
The Wall Streeters aren’t the only ones who can go pound sand. In a YouTube commentary, recorded a few days ago, Matt Walsh nicely disassembles the caterwauling of the likes of Elizabeth “We need a wealth tax” Warren. (He played part of her reaction–which she recorded while she’s riding in the back of her chauffeured limousine.) He took many of the arguments that Musk’s detractors presented and explains what happened.
Then again, those are the same people who would probably complain that one needs to buy a ticket in order to win a lottery.
Apparently a major Canadian institution also profited from the IPO. From what I heard, the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan made over $10 billion (I assume in loonies instead of greenbacks).
“Then again, those are the same people who would probably complain that one needs to buy a ticket in order to win a lottery.”
They *are* the ones complaining about just that. There is a movement in Washington to offer an ‘alternate pathway’ toward licensing as a social services counselor. One that doesn’t involve a licensing exam; the licensing exam that ‘too many’ Favored Groups are not passing. Proponent’s arguments come down to “The current requirements are too inconvenient for some people.” Yeah; adulting is hard. I think, though, that given the events the last half-dozen years, they may find that Progressive ‘logic’ is less and less convincing, for more and more people. .