Russia’s first private space company Dauria Aerospace has decided to wind-down its offices in California and Munich, and focus instead on its Russian operations in the face of geopolitical headwinds. Founder and CEO Mikhail Kokorich said that capital…
Russia’s first private space company Dauria Aerospace has decided to wind-down its offices in California and Munich, and focus instead on its Russian operations in the face of geopolitical headwinds.
Founder and CEO Mikhail Kokorich said that capital markets had been closed to Russian-owned companies and that Dauria could not compete with a slew of well-funded foreign start-ups.
Dauria had originally aimed to manufacture micro and nano satellites to establish low-cost constellations that would then provide rapid remote monitoring services, such as Earth observation and M2M wireless communication, through a cloud platform.
Its business plan puts it in the same market as companies like Planet Labs, which secured US$95m in funding in January, and Skybox Imaging, snapped up by Google last year for US$500m.
Kokorich said that the data services part of the business, based in the US and Europe, would be wound down, and that Dauria would reorient itself to become an export manufacturer, SatelliteFinance has confirmed.
The entrepreneur said that the devaluation in the rouble would benefit its export business and allow it to undercut its competitors. Kokorich added that Dauria has a significant order book going forward.
Russia is in the process of re-nationalising its space industry, but Kokorich was said that he would like Dauria to remain private and sell largely to private foreign companies.
Headquartered in the Skolkovo tech-hub near Moscow, Dauria was formed in 2011 as Russia’s first private space company. It raised US$10m in a first round of financing from management and Russian investors at the beginning of 2012, and a further US$20m from venture capital firm I2BF Global Ventures in 2013.
