Space the final frontier for Chinese start-ups and venture capitalists
Experts say state-run space programme is among the most expensive in the world, opening up opportunities for private investment
Space is a frontier that could soon fall to privately funded Chinese start-ups looking for commercial opportunities created by the sky-high costs of the state-run space programme, which one expert describes as “probably the most expensive in the world”.
Visitors to the simple but sleek website of Beijing-based One Space Technology are greeted with the slogan “We create space express”.
With its first commercial rocket launch scheduled for 2018, the private aerospace company has vowed to become China’s version of US rocket launch firm SpaceX, with a low-cost launch vehicle that would “make a space journey as convenient as hailing a cab”.
In the short-term the launch cost can be reduced to 50 per cent of the ‘national team’, and just one-tenth in the long run
A key investor in One Space was Legend Holdings, the mother company of Lenovo, the world’s largest personal computer maker, which owns a substantial but unspecified share of the company through its venture capital fund Legend Star, One Space’s website says. Other institutional shareholders include the HIT Robot Group at Harbin Institute of Technology, China’s top space technology research university, and internet-based venture capital firms such as Chun Xiao Capital and Land Stone Capital.
Qi Shiyang, a spokesman for Beijing-based Chun Xiao, said its strategic investment in the space sector had been “welcomed and encouraged” by government.
The commercial satellite business in China had recently been “fully opened” by the authorities to private companies, he said.
Due to the strong demand for satellites in the industrial and commercial sectors, China’s small and micro satellite market would soon see explosive growth, Qi said. The strong demand for satellites, which far exceeded the existing launch resources, had created a capital market opportunity, he said.