5Y News | 5Y Capital Portfolio Company GalaxySpace Closes New Funding Round
Accelerating China's satellite internet infrastructure development.
Chinese commercial aerospace company GalaxySpace has announced the completion of its latest funding round, with a post-money valuation of approximately RMB 11 billion. The round was led by CCB International, with participation from Anhui Province's "Triple Innovation" Fund, Hefei Industry Investment, and Zhenwei Fund. Existing investors Legend Capital and Chaos Investment also continued their support.
5Y Capital participated in GalaxySpace's Series A round in 2018 and has provided ongoing support through multiple subsequent rounds.
Cheng Yu, Partner at 5Y Capital, commented: "Congratulations to GalaxySpace on completing this new funding round. Low-earth orbit satellite constellations hold tremendous value for users, commercially, and for society as a whole — opening up entirely new dimensions of possibility for the Internet of Everything and human communication. This was the vision Xu Ming had from day one of founding the company, but what's even more admirable is watching how he has methodically, patiently, and resiliently broken down this massive vision over the years, tackling challenges one by one and gradually bringing it to life. I've learned a great deal from him."
Xu Ming, founder, chairman, and CEO of GalaxySpace, stated that the proceeds from this round will primarily fund R&D in satellite internet-related technologies and the expansion of commercial applications. GalaxySpace will accelerate development of core technologies including stackable flat-panel satellites, flexible multi-beam phased array antennas for on-orbit dynamic allocation, flexible solar arrays, and digital processing payloads, while also building out low-cost, high-volume satellite manufacturing capabilities — steadily advancing toward the 6G era of ubiquitous high-speed connectivity integrating terrestrial and space-based networks.
GalaxySpace's self-developed flexible solar array
Founded in 2018, GalaxySpace is China's first unicorn in the commercial aerospace and satellite internet sectors. On March 5 of this year, China successfully launched its first batch of six mass-produced low-earth orbit broadband communication satellites — the GalaxySpace-02 batch — which together with the company's inaugural satellite formed China's first low-earth orbit broadband communication test constellation. This network, dubbed "Little Spider Web," established an integrated satellite-ground 5G test network.
GalaxySpace's self-developed six low-earth orbit broadband communication satellites
To date, "Little Spider Web" has completed multiple satellite internet application validations, including China's first test of integrated low-earth orbit broadband communication satellites with a 5G private network, China's first V-band low-earth orbit satellite telemetry and control, "mobile-on-the-move" vehicle communication tests using the low-earth orbit broadband test constellation, and multi-satellite continuous communication tests — marking important progress toward building integrated satellite-ground networks.
Global space infrastructure development has already shifted into high gear, with commercial aerospace becoming one of the new drivers of world economic growth. A Morgan Stanley report projects that the global space economy will reach $1 trillion in value by 2040, with satellite internet expected to account for 50% to 70% of that growth.
In recent years, satellite internet development has become a global race, with countries accelerating low-earth orbit constellation deployment. SpaceX's Starlink program in the U.S. has already launched over 3,200 satellites. According to media reports, Starlink provided services during the Russia-Ukraine conflict, further highlighting satellite internet's advantages of being unaffected by ground environments and offering low latency.
GalaxySpace's self-developed next-generation stackable flat-panel satellite
GalaxySpace's next-generation stackable flat-panel satellite has now entered the qualification model development phase — the first of its kind in China — and is scheduled for launch early next year.
Xu Ming noted that developing stackable flat-panel satellites will facilitate mass satellite production and rapid large-scale constellation deployment. Going forward, GalaxySpace will seize development opportunities under the new national system framework, fully leverage the advantages of commercial aerospace's iterative, rapid-development approach, continuously innovate and push boundaries, and contribute to China's satellite internet construction.
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