29 Jul, 2022
Cumulative total investment reaches approximately $237 million USD
TOKYO—July 29, 2022 — Today, ispace, inc. (ispace), a global lunar exploration company with its headquarters in Japan and regional offices in the United States and Europe, announced that it had signed a loan agreement totaling approximately $37 Million USD[1] with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Mizuho Bank, Ltd., MUFG Bank, Ltd., the Shoko Chukin Bank, Ltd., and the Shizuoka Bank, Ltd.
The loan was obtained through Japan’s Act on Strengthening Industrial Competitiveness and the Innovative Technology Research and Development Project, under which ispace has been approved as a business operator. ispace has entered into a debt guarantee agreement with SME Support Japan, guaranteeing 50% of the loan principal.
According to its current schedule, ispace plans to launch its Mission 1 (M1), part of the HAKUTO-R program, as early as November 2022[2]on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla. Upon its deployment from the rocket, it is expected that the M1 lander will then carry multiple commercial and government payloads including two rovers to the surface of the Moon.
In addition to M1, ispace plans future missions to the Moon, including Mission 2, which currently has a full payload capacity and is scheduled to launch in 2024,[3] as well as Mission 3, which is accepting payload orders and for which a launch date has yet to be announced. The loan agreement will provide flexible and stable financing to invest steadily in lander development in a timely manner.
At present, the total amount of the company’s borrowings, including existing loans, is approximately $57 Million USD[4], bringing the company’s total funding to approximately $237 Million USD[5].
Summary of Syndicated Loan Agreement
| 1. Contract Amount | 5 billion Japanese Yen (approx. $37Million USD1) |
| 2. Maturity Date (loan period) | July 31, 2025 (3 years) |
| 3. Repayment Method | Lump-sum repayment on maturity |
| 4. Purpose of Use | Funds for development and operation of lunar landers and rovers, including other related expenses |
| 5. Arranger | Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation |
| 6. Co-arrangers | Mizuho Bank, Ltd. MUFG Bank, Ltd. The Shoko Chukin Bank, Ltd. |
| 7. Participants | The Shizuoka Bank, Ltd. |
“The cooperation on space development between the public and private sector is essential for ispace and our partners to develop a functioning cislunar ecosystem. The financing announced today obtained through Japan’s goal of supporting innovative technology and research companies like ispace will help us to realize our vision to ‘Expand our Planet. Expand our Future,'” said Takeshi Hakamada, Founder & CEO of ispace.
About ispace, inc. (https://ispace-inc.com/)
ispace, a global lunar resource development company with the vision, “Expand our Planet. Expand our Future.”, specializes in designing and building lunar landers and rovers. ispace aims to extend the sphere of human life into space and create a sustainable world by providing high-frequency, low-cost transportation services to the Moon. The company has offices in Japan, Luxembourg, and the United States, with about 200[6] employees worldwide. ispace is part of a team led by Draper, which was awarded a NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) Program contract to land on the far side of the Moon by 2025. Both ispace and ispace EUROPE S.A. (ispace EU) were awarded contracts to collect and transfer ownership of lunar regolith to NASA, and ispace EU was selected by the European Space Agency (ESA) to be part of the Science Team for PROSPECT, a program which seeks to extract water on the Moon.
Established in 2010, ispace operated “HAKUTO” which was one of five finalist teams in the Google Lunar XPRIZE race. The company’s first mission as part of its HAKUTO-R lunar exploration program is currently planned for as early as November 2022[7] and is expected to launch from the United States on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. ispace has also launched a lunar data business concept to support new customers as a gateway to conduct business on the Moon.
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[1] Actual figure is JPY 5 billion; JPY to USD conversion provided for reference purposes, using an FX rate based on the past 1-month average of TTM rate in June 2022.
[2] Current plan as of July 2022
[3] Current plan as of July 2022
[4] Actual figure is approx. JPY 7.1 billion; JPY to USD conversion provided for reference purposes, using an FX rate based on the past 1-month average of TTM rate in June 2022.
[5] Actual figure is JPY 26.8 billion JPY to USD conversions provided for reference purposes, using an FX rate based on the past 1-month average of TTM rate in June 2022.
[6] Current plan as of July 2022
[7] Current plan as of July 2022