Fueling Australia’s entry into space

• The Australian space industry aims to build ‘space heritage’ with its recent win! A consortium led by 500-backed rocket startup Gilmour Space Technologies, known as the Australian Space Manufacturing Network (ASMN), has been awarded a US$39 million grant from the government.
• ASMN will use its new funding to bring small & medium businesses and researchers together to manufacture launch vehicles and satellites and send them to space.
• It will establish three facilities: a common test and manufacturing hub, an advanced manufacturing facility for commercial rockets and satellites anchored by Gilmour, and the orbital spaceport in North Queensland where Gilmour hopes to launch its first rocket in October this year.
• This initiative will create 850 new jobs, including 350 space manufacturers, in highly skilled engineering and technical roles.
• Congratulations to Gilmour Space and ASMN!
• Read the full article here.

Success through serving merchants first

• Despite the booming e-commerce market in Indonesia, 90% of the country’s businesses are still offline. Coupled with rising smartphone penetration, there is plenty of room for startups to help these businesses go digital.
• In a DealStreetAsia panel discussion, Krishnan Menon, founder and CEO of 500-backed Lummo (formerly known as BukuKas), said that the market could grow to as much as US$150 billion in 2025.
• In this equation, big marketplaces focus on their relationship with consumers. This leaves startups like Lummo to serve merchants first.
• In a market like Indonesia with more than 10,000 islands and 60 million merchants with very different needs, Krishnan said players in the digitalization space need to have a sense of focus to provide effective solutions to meet the major needs of merchants.
• “What we have done through the last two years, and what’s clearly working for us, is over the course of time we’ve really focused ourselves into a narrower but still large enough band, and gone deeper and deeper into that audience and kept on building from the insights that we keep getting from them,” he shared.
• Get the full event recap on DealStreetAsia. A subscription may be required.

Helping drone companies take flight

• Promising businesses in India’s drone market can now look forward to lease financing options. 500-backed drone startup Aarav Unmanned Systems (AUS) struck a first-of-its-kind unique lease financial deal with Grip, an alternative investment platform.
• Under this agreement, Grip became India’s first company to provide lease financing opportunities in drones to retail investors. It also allows AUS to build new revenue streams by leveraging lease financing for more than 50 drones.
• Since the startup’s founding in 2013, AUS has mapped more than 5 million acres, 15,000 villages, and 35 cities. Its drones have worked in more than 250 mines and 350 stockyards for companies like Tata Steel, Hindalco, and Coal India.
• AUS saw a 250% annual growth in the last three years and is the leading player with the highest market share in the commercial drone market in India. They are also one of three companies shortlisted by the Government of India to map the country’s 600,000 villages.
• Read the full article here.