Charter Space raises $5M seed to insure the space economy
What's the deal? Charter SpaceDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, an El Segundo, California-based startup, has raised US$3.24M seed round to grow its space insurance business. Crystal Venture PartnersDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → led the round, with participation from QED, Blank VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Hustle FundDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and Gaingels. The startup, a finalist in last year's TechCrunch Startup Battlefield, has now raised $8 million to date.
What's the endgame? Founder and chief executive officer Yuk Chi Chan and co-founder Yukun Yin initially built centralised software for aerospace engineering, then realised its technical, manufacturing, and test data could improve the underwriting process. Charter launched a nationally licensed insurance brokerage in May and now services more than 50 companies across the US space and defense industrial base.
Why now? Insuring objects sent to space remains rare, largely because of the high cost of underwriting something like a satellite. Chan wants that to change: "We want more satellites to get insured, because that means that everything as a whole is much, much safer."
He argues wider coverage would open new financing routes. "You can start bringing in debt, credit, lots of different options that you have in any other sort of advanced industry," Chan told TechCrunch last year.
Why the market's ready: Space was long dominated by governments and defense contractors that moved slowly and conservatively. The boom in new companies over the past decade — spurred by SpaceXDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →'s Falcon 9 lowering launch costs — has created enough demand for firms like Charter Space to grow.
Investors frame insurance as core infrastructure. "Charter Space sits at the intersection of two enormous opportunities: the rapid growth of the commercial space economy and the need for a modern approach to understanding and insuring the increasingly complex risks that accompany that growth," said Jonathan Crystal, managing partner of Crystal Venture Partners.
What's next? Charter Space will use the proceeds to grow its sales organisation and insurance offerings. Future products under consideration include coverage for "novel mission concepts," such as space-based nuclear power and lunar missions.
The signal: The round ranks in the 90th percentile among all-time seed rounds for deep tech companies in the United Kingdom, a sign of investor appetite for the financial plumbing behind the commercial space economy. As new satellite makers and launch providers crowd in, the money increasingly follows the firms building the safety net beneath them.
Read more: newswav.com
Image credit: Charter Space
