Just two days after SpaceX made its historic market debut, a Chinese space start-up held an investor roadshow for its maiden fundraising round by touting a mission to help China catch up with the US in the race to the heavens.The mission for Tectronic Maritime Space Systems, a Shanghai-based company that focuses on launching rockets from the sea, is to "build the Maersk of global commercial space flight," finance manager Gu Mei told roughly 50 venture capital investors.
To achieve that goal, Tectronic, established just three months ago, needs to raise 150 million yuan (US$22 million) at a valuation of 1.5 billion yuan, according to its investor presentation.
It plans three additional funding rounds totaling 3 billion yuan over five years before targeting a 2032 listing at a valuation of about 50 billion yuan - more than 30 times its current level, the presentation showed.
"Demand is inelastic, supply is limited and the clock is ticking," Gu said at the event on June 14. "Investors participating in this round of financing are expected to get returns of 26.7 times."
The aggressive fundraising pitch highlights a scramble among what Beijing refers to as China's "strategic emerging and future industries," which include startups focusing on space, quantum technology, nuclear fusion and brain-machine interfacing.
