Highlights from 2020 Startups on the ISS: Innovation and Investment

October 9, 2020 • By Sven Eenmaa, Director of Investment and Economic Analysis for the ISS National Lab

As part of the 2020 virtual International Space Station Research and Development Conference(Abbreviation: ISSRDC) The only conference dedicated exclusively to showcasing how the International Space Station is advancing science and technology and enabling a robust and sustainable market in LEO. This annual conference brings together leaders from the commercial sector, U.S. government agencies, and academic communities to foster innovation and discovery onboard the space station. ISSRDC is hosted by the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, manager of the ISS National Lab; NASA; and the American Astronautical Society. (ISSRDC), the International Space Station (ISSInternational Space Station) U.S. National Laboratory held its fifth annual space-focused startup and investor networking event Startups on the ISS: Innovation and Investment on September 29.

This virtual investor pitch event drove attendance from marquee venture firms and corporate investors and included an exciting set of presentations across many of the industry verticals where the ISS National Lab has been facilitating research and development for years. The insightful presentations were followed by rapid Q&A looking to gain further insight into areas such as user demand, product technology parameters, manufacturing feasibility, regulatory requirements, etc. For those who would like to revisit the highlights or those who missed the event, we have provided our summary below.

The startup presentations were opened by four companies in the technology development domain:

• Cognitive Space discussed its software as a service model and its wins in developing automated and intelligent systems for satellite command and control as well as management of hybrid constellations.
• SCOUT provided insight on its path to testing and developing the first commercial in-space inspection service, as well as on the demand they are seeing for the initial SCOUT-Vision solution.
• Seer Tracking shared its team’s progress and validation results, as well as initial customer engagement plans with its novel artificial intelligence solutions for high-precision tracking and mapping of space debris.
• Xona Space Systems discussed the value proposition and path to revenue generation for its planned satellite fleet to deliver resilient high-precision position, navigation, and timing from low Earth orbit(Abbreviation: LEO) The orbit around the Earth that extends up to an altitude of 2,000 km (1,200 miles) from Earth’s surface. The International Space Station’s orbit is in LEO, at an altitude of approximately 250 miles. CubeSats.

In the advanced materials verticals, our schedule included two companies:

• Edgehog highlighted its nanotextured glass to boost the energy output of solar panels with tangible inroads to space applications and down-the-road plans for broader mulitbillion-dollar target markets.
• Multiscale Systems discussed its mechanical metamaterials to deliver lighter, stronger, and more multifunctional solutions, as well as outlined strategies toward producing its MetaCORE-LD.

Addressing life sciences applications and opportunities:

• Aphios Corporation discussed its plans to develop a novel nanotherapeutic for Alzheimer’s disease and timelines for its IND and clinical trial phases.
• Encapsulate discussed the progress of its automated tumor-on-a-chip technology creating therapeutic response profiles of patients for personalized cancer therapy, including test partnerships and validation results already achieved.
• Nortis, a strong closer to the pitch event, shared its revenue-generating customer engagement and product development progress in deploying its ParVivo organ-on-chip platform for pharmaceutical drug development and disease modeling.

At our virtual pitch event, we were excited to see several new investors join those that already have an established presence in the industry and are involved with our ecosystem. We are continuing to report strong growth in investor engagement in the ISS National Lab’s capital markets ecosystem.

This growth, combined with the increasing engagement of entrepreneurs in the ISS National Lab ecosystem, has led to a broadening dialogue and capital introductions around potential investment opportunities in the expanding space economy. We are encouraged by the traction and look forward to our continued growth to create value in this still nascent ecosystem.

We thank all the presenters for their insightful contributions and the attendees for their participation!