Venture Capital Available For Businesses With Ideas For New
Uses For Space Technology
The European Space Agency (ESA) has had long standing
technology transfer and business incubation programs to help adapt
space technologies to Earth-bound use. Now, the agency says
it will strengthen these initiatives by supporting new businesses
using space innovations through a dedicated venture capital
fund.
The Open Sky Technologies Fund (OSTF) is an early-stage venture
capital fund aimed at nurturing the most promising business
opportunities arising from space technologies and satellite
applications for terrestrial industries. The OSTF will be managed
by Triangle Venture Capital Group on ESA's behalf.
Michel Courtois, ESA Director of Technical and Quality
Management, formally signed an agreement with Bernd Geiger,
Managing General Partner and founder of Triangle, at ESA
Headquarters on 4 March.
The fund has attained an initial 'first closing' value of $20.3
million, with the target of raising up to $136 million (100 million
euros) by June 2011. It will source investment opportunities across
all 18 ESA Member States identified through ESA's Technology
Transfer program Office (TTPO) and its partners.
"The OSTF is ESA's first step into the venture capital world but
represents a logical next step from our existing technology
transfer activities," said Director Courtois. "The TTPO has built
up an extensive technology transfer network in cooperation with the
European Space Incubation Network ESINET that is part of the
European Business Incubator Network (EBN). ESA has set up a quartet
of ESA Business Incubation centers which have helped to create more
than 70 companies so far.
"But for these incubated companies to continue to grow they need
access to investment capital. With the OSTF, ESA is supporting
young and entrepreneurial companies which are putting innovative
ideas from space technology, services and applications to
terrestrial uses. This will help to increase the benefits coming
back from space to European citizens."
This first European venture capital fund dedicated to the space
community will be run for ESA by Triangle, a recognized player in
Europe's venture capital community. Triangle has been working
exclusively with spin-offs from universities and research centers
for the past 13 years.
Triangle has become a leading early-stage technology investor,
with four funds managed to date. The company has a long-standing
affinity with the sector and related expertise, including investor
status in a prominent ESA spin-off company iOpener Media, which
uses satnav-derived location-based service technology to facilitate
realtime integration of real-world objects such as Formula 1 racing
cars into virtual gaming environments. iOpener is part of the ESTEC
Business Incubation center (BIC) in Noordwijk, the Netherlands.