Singapore space startup Astroscale raises $7.7M series A round

Astroscale, a Singapore-based startup developing satellites to remove space debris from Earth’s orbit, has raised a US$7.7 million series A round, it announced last week.

Founded by Japanese entrepreneur Mitsunobu Okada, the company’s new round also consists of investors who are heavyweights in the Japanese tech industry. They are:

• venture capital firm JAFCO

• Mistletoe, a company founded by Japanese billionaire Taizo Son

• Gree co-founder Kotaro Yamagishi

• Mixi founder Kenji Kasahara

• Shuhei Morofuji, founder of SMS, a healthcare information services company making US$120 million in revenue .

• Netage founder Kiyoshi Nishikawa

• Mari Murata, founder of Iemo amd a DeNA board member

• Mamoru Taniya, founding parter of Asuka Asset Management, representative founder of international school – ISAK

• Osamu Kaneda, founder of technology media company Yoren

• Takao Ozawa, COO of YJ capital and a senior executive at Yahoo Japan

The funds will be used to set up an office in Japan to “accelerate manufacturing small satellites.” It aims to demo its space junk removal system by the end of 2017. The company, which pitched at Startup Asia Singapore 2014, plans to rely partly on supplementary revenue streams to sustain itself. These include sending Pocari Sweat sports drink and original J-pop songs to the moon as marketing stunts.

Tech in Asia has reached out to Astroscale for more details on the investment.

See more: This Singapore startup wants to remove killer litter from space

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