Luxembourg - 7 February 2018
Luxembourg-based KLEOS Space today announces the closing of a 1.4M Euro seed funding round and its intention to IPO the business on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) in July 2018.
During a press conference held at the premises of KLEOS Space at Technoport in Belval, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of the Economy, Étienne Schneider, supported the fact that the first and only Luxembourg-based company to be listed on the ASX so far started up business in the Grand Duchy within the SpaceResources.lu initiative.
The seed funding and the strategic decision to IPO will raise the capital required to rapidly accelerate the company’s satellite procurement, geolocation data sales and growth objectives, creating more than 50 jobs and significant inward investment in Luxembourg in the near term.
KLEOS Space will remain a Luxembourg-based company with its main operations located and further developed in the Grand Duchy in cooperation with companies’ expertise of the local and rapidly expanding space economy and benefitting from other leading experts on the local market.
Étienne Schneider, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of the Economy says: “The successful closing of the seed round and the planned IPO confirm that both KLEOS as a company in a future-oriented sector and the Grand Duchy, as a location for developing highly advanced space technologies, are attractive for foreign investors. The listing of a Luxembourg-based NewSpace company on the Australian Stock Exchange underlines the international character of the SpaceResources.lu initiative and reinforce the positioning of Luxembourg as a European hub for the exploration and use of space resources.”
Andy Bowyer, Director of KLEOS Space says: "The listing on the Australian Stock Exchange has been enabled by the significant support we have received from the Luxembourg Government and the local expertise ecosystem. This support allows us to remain a Luxembourg-based company. We are excited to be cooperating with other Luxembourg space companies, new and old, within the SpaceResources.lu initiative to further develop our offer. We anticipate that significant space segment contracts will be placed within the growing Luxembourg Space community."
Stephen Silver, CEO of Hunter Capital Advisors (Lead Funding Manager) says: "Hunter Capital Advisors is pleased to announce the closing of the KLEOS Space seed round funding. We’re delighted with the overwhelming response from our investors, which reflects continued demand for access to unique investment opportunities and an appetite for offshore partnerships. The round was heavily oversubscribed and we look forward to continuing the process with the upcoming listing on the Australian Stock Exchange in Quarter 2, 2018. The support highlights the suitability of the Australian Stock Exchange as a marketplace for emerging companies with a global reach.” Stephen Silver adds: “We’re excited by the Kleos Space management team, their swift execution and the clear commercialisation strategy. We’re also thrilled to work with the Luxembourg Government to help foster early stage companies and provide access to global capital markets.”
The announcement of the planned listing takes place only six months after the signature of a MoU with the Luxembourg Ministry of Economy which marked the start of Luxembourg Government’s support to the research and development phase of KLEOS Space and to provide further support to the company through Luxembourg research institutes such as LIST and other Luxembourg-based companies such as EmTroniX.
KLEOS Space is leveraging highly disruptive proprietary In-Space Manufacturing technology that enables the deployment of very large structures in space, the first and key application for the technology is the Geolocation Intelligence satellite constellation.
In 2019, KLEOS Space will launch a revenue generating remote sensing/geolocation pathfinder satellite system followed by an increasing constellation of satellites that will further grow the company and the value to the customer. The data the KLEOS satellites gather of geolocated radio transmissions will be sold for search and rescue, maritime security and regulatory intelligence purposes by users for whom quality geospatial intelligence & signals intelligence is essential.
About KLEOS Space s.à r.l.
KLEOS Space s.à r.l. is a newly founded Luxembourg-based company and a spin-off of UK-based Magna Parva Ltd. KLEOS Space will launch a revenue generating radio transmission geolocation pathfinder satellite constellation. The company’s In-Space Manufacturing technology allows for the deployment of large structures in Space. KLEOS Space S.à r.l will develop, own and operate the Geolocation Intelligence space based infrastructure, selling the collected Data as a Service (DaaS). Further information: www.KLEOS.space
