It’s an exciting day here at Spaceflight Industries. Not only are we hosts of NewSpace 2016, one of the premier conferences in the space industry kicking off today in Seattle, we announced that we secured $18 million of Series B financing led by prominent technology growth investor Mithril Capital Management of San Francisco, in a round that is expected to raise up to $25 million.

And in the same breath, we also announced we acquired Herndon, Virginia-based OpenWhere, Inc. to further enhance and execute on our BlackSky geospatial data platform for satellite imagery. More on what the acquisition means to our platform and customers here.

Whew – big week, and it’s only Tuesday!

This is Mithril’s first investment in the NewSpace economy, and we’re fortunate they chose us to support our strategy and vision. Mithril, co-founded by Peter Thiel and Ajay Royan, operates on the frontiers of innovation, and is focused on working with organizations who are are helping solve important real world problems. The additional financing will help us execute on additional strategic initiatives, including the acquisition of OpenWhere.

Having a venture team as prestigious as Mithril join in our effort to democratize space for all and expand geospatial intelligence for humanity is a sign we’re on the right path. Further, it sends a strong endorsement to other Valley investors about the NewSpace segment.

Mithril joins our existing investors RRE Venture Capital, Vulcan Capital and Razor’s Edge Ventures who also all reinvested in the round. The road ahead will undoubtedly be challenging and exciting, but we can’t imagine going down this path with a better group of backers who believe in our ability to change the world.