Sangun Accelerates K-Space Ecosystem... Follow-up Investment in Korea's First Space Ground Station Company

Follow-up Investment in Korea's First Private Space Ground Station Service Company, Contec Co., Ltd.

[Asia Economy Reporter Yu Je-hoon] Industrial Bank of Korea announced that it has made a follow-on investment of 5 billion KRW in Contec, a startup providing space ground station services, as part of the 'K-Space Ecosystem Creation' initiative. This is the second investment following the 2 billion KRW support provided in March last year.

Contec is the only private company in Korea that supports one-stop services from the design, manufacturing, and construction of space ground stations to the reception, processing, and analysis of video data transmitted by satellites. Founded by CEO Lee Seong-hee, who worked at the Korea Aerospace Research Institute for 16 years, Contec established the first private space ground station in Jeju Island in 2019, the first in Asia.

Based on the total Series C investment of 61 billion KRW, the company plans to expand its space ground stations to 12 stations in 10 countries within this year and create new businesses through owning its own satellites. The Industrial Bank of Korea expects Contec to grow into a global space specialized company.

According to Morgan Stanley Research, the global space industry market value is expected to rapidly grow from 380 billion USD in 2020 to 10 trillion USD by 2030. Additionally, while the average annual number of satellites launched between 2011 and 2020 was 280, it is expected that 1,000 satellites will be launched annually by 2030.

As the space industry is rapidly growing, the Industrial Bank of Korea is strengthening its investments in startups leading the domestic space economy era, not only in Contec but across the board. For example, the bank invested in 2020 and 2022 in Perigee Aerospace, a startup founded by KAIST students developing small space launch vehicles, and supported the construction of a launch vehicle assembly test facility. Based on this, the company completed the launch of a technology verification test rocket, taking a step closer to commercializing the launch vehicle.

Furthermore, the Industrial Bank of Korea invested in SIA, which provides AI-based satellite and aerial video data analysis services in defense and environmental sectors, and Naraspace Technology, which develops ultra-small cluster satellites for ground observation and big data-based satellite video platform services.

The bank stated, "We have supported a total of 4 companies with 20.5 billion KRW across the entire space industry value chain, including launch vehicles, satellites, ground stations, and satellite data video analysis, and will continue to pay attention to more challenging areas of the space industry." It added, "Through proactive and bold support for startups operating in the space industry, a representative future growth industry, we will take the lead in advancing Korea to become one of the world's top seven space powers."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.