Astroforge

History

2022: California startup raises $13 million for platinum mining on asteroids

On May 26, 2022, California startup Astroforge, based in Huntington Beach, aims to become the first company to deliver resources from asteroids to Earth. For these purposes, the company raised $13 million in seed financing.

The Initialized Capital fund led the investment round, joined by investors Seven Seven Six, EarthRise, Aera VC, Liquid 2 and Soma.

California startup Astroforge raised $13 million to mine platinum on asteroids

I think that from the point of view of investors, they saw a great interest in space and high technology, and space and high technology require longer periods, "said Astroforge co-founder Matt Gialich. We are not a B2B SaaS company, we are not going to become profitable in a year. When you look at the opportunities - and the opportunities really lie in mastering the entire universe - this is such a huge prospect that investors are ready to bet on a longer time horizon, "said Gialich.

Virgin Orbit veteran Gialich launched the company in January 2022 with his co-founder, SpaceX and NASA graduate Jose Acain; the four-person company, which, according to Gialich, is now recruiting seven more employees, hopes to successfully mine the asteroid by the end of 2030. The funds received will be used to finance the first two Astroforge missions, with the first demonstration flight planned for the launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle in 2023.

Although Astroforge keeps the specifics of its technology secret, the company said that it involves a "high-class vacuum" and requires weightlessness, but does not involve landing on the asteroid itself. The company considers asteroids with a diameter of 20 meters to 1.5 kilometers, containing a high concentration of platinum group metals, which limits the range of potential targets to less than 1 million of 10 million asteroids near the Earth.^[1]

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