Kristen Smith
Apex will accelerate the production of its standardized satellite bus platforms with $200 million in new capital it raised in a Series C funding round to expand the company’s inventory and support various government satellite programs, including the Golden Dome missile defense system and the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture.
“Apex’s approach to building spacecraft is key to America realizing its commercial and national security strategies in space,” Apex CEO and founder Ian Cinnamon said in a statement released Tuesday.
Off-the-Shelf Satellite Platforms
The spacecraft platforms are designed as an off-the-shelf offering to eliminate the need for customers to spend money and time on developing bespoke spacecraft and allow them to focus on advancing space capabilities and speed up deployment.
According to Apex, its satellite buses could support payloads for missile defense, space-based interceptors, low Earth and geostationary space domain awareness, communications and remote sensing.
“Without Apex, America cannot achieve the kind of mass it needs in space in the relevant time frame and at an acceptable cost,” said Mina Faltas, CEO of Washington Harbour Partners, one of the Series C funding round investors.
Satellite Development Contract Win
Apex has seen increasing customer demand following its first spacecraft mission in March 2024, during which its Aries SN1 spacecraft, a production model of its off-the-shelf satellite bus, launched on the SpaceX Transporter-10 rideshare mission. In February, the U.S. Space Force awarded the spacecraft manufacturer a $45.9 million contract to deliver an unspecified number of satellites to support multiorbit missions.
Apex is expanding its product lines with the development of the GEO Aries satellite bus intended for geostationary orbit missions and the Nova spacecraft platform for payloads weighing between 200 kg and 500 kg.
