Ispace, the Tokyo-based space exploration startup, announced last week that it raised $28 million in its Series B funding from excited Japanese investors. Ispace plans a robotic mission to the moon, called "Blueprint Moon" in 2022.

The round was led by Incubate Fund, a venture capital group that has been on board since the seed round. Space Frontier Fund, Toyota Two, Takasago Thermal Engineering Company (TTE), and Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. were all participants.

Space Frontier Fund is a space-focused venture fund established in May 2020 and is backed by several high-profile Japanese companies.

TTE and Mitsui are both corporate partners. TTE is working on water electrolysis experiments to fly on future landers. Mitsui is developing insurance products for commercial development in the quickly emerging private-sector space industry.

This latest effort brings ispace to $125 million in total. In 2017, in the company’s Series A round, a record-breaking $95 million, was funded. This was the most raised by any Japanese startup.

The Series B round provides the funds to finalize the Hakuto-R lunar lander. Jumpei Nozaki, CFO of ispace said that “This Series B round of $28 million will cover the completion of Mission 1 development on schedule in 2022.” 

The company announced the funding and unveiled a new business line in an online press conference. In the “Blueprint Moon” initiative, ispace plans to offer data products commercially and collect lunar information. The company is starting with data obtained in government lunar missions, which will later be compiled with data and images collected by the company’s future space exploration efforts.

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