The wave of commercial space IPOs is about to begin; China's SpaceX equivalents are gearing up.
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On October 23, Beijing Galactic Energy Aerospace Technology Co., Ltd. (“Galactic Energy”) submitted IPO counseling filings to the Beijing Securities Regulatory Bureau.
Galactic Energy is the first private commercial rocket company in China to achieve mass production and high-frequency commercial launches of rockets. With a relatively high success rate, its successful rocket launches account for 51.3% of the total successful commercial launches by private Chinese rocket companies.
“Their main products are solid rockets, while liquid rockets are still under development. Compared to peers, their very significant advantage is the high success rate,” an industry insider familiar with Galactic Energy told Xin Feng.
Compared to solid rockets, liquid rockets have advantages such as reusability and higher payload capacity.
It is understood that, globally, only a few companies, such as SpaceX, have the technology and successful launch experience for liquid rockets.
However, Galactic Energy’s first liquid rocket launch is imminent.
The "Pallas-1” rocket, soon to be launched by Galactic Energy, is among the first group of reusable orbital liquid carrier rockets in China, designed for about 30 uses, which is expected to substantially reduce launch costs.
Recently, Galactic Energy has secured additional funding to develop its liquid rocket technology.
Just before starting its IPO counseling, Galactic Energy completed a Series D funding round raising 2.4 billion yuan, planning to accelerate R&D and production, testing, and launch capacity construction for its reusable "Pallas" series of liquid rockets and "Ceres-2" medium solid carrier rockets.
Industry-wide, private Chinese commercial aerospace companies are expected to experience a wave of IPOs, with companies such as iSpace, Tianbing Technology, LandSpace, and ExPace having all already entered their IPO counseling periods.
However, due to common challenges faced by commercial aerospace companies—such as long development cycles, high investments, and difficulty turning short-term profits—there is considerable pressure on the IPO process.
For example, iSpace began IPO counseling as early as 2020 and has completed 20 rounds of counseling but has yet to enter the IPO application stage.
Rocket launch failures could introduce more uncertainties to a company’s IPO journey. In August this year, LandSpace, then under IPO counseling, saw its Zhuque-2 upgraded Y3 carrier rocket malfunction after ignition and launch at the Dongfeng Commercial Aerospace Innovation Test Zone, resulting in a failed flight test mission.
It is worth noting that policy is further relaxing IPO restrictions for commercial aerospace companies.
In June, the China Securities Regulatory Commission released the “Opinion on Establishing the Sci-Tech Growth Segment on the STAR Market to Enhance Institutional Inclusivity and Adaptability,” stating that unprofitable companies may once again apply the STAR Market’s fifth set of listing standards, expanding its scope to support more frontier tech fields such as artificial intelligence and commercial aerospace.
Against this backdrop, the STAR Market's first commercial aerospace company may soon debut.
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