Space Ground Amalgam Wins 2012 NewSpace Business Plan Competition
Digital Solid State Propulsion is Awarded Second Prize.
Silicon Valley, CA – The competition judges have awarded Space Ground Amalgam, LLC first place in the 2012 NewSpace Business Plan Competition and the $100,000 prize was presented by competition Project Manager, Tom Olson. Digital Solid State Propulsion, LLC earned second place in the competition, along with a $10,000 prize. In a last minute addition, Honorable Mention is given to Terapio Corporation for providing an unusually commendable technology that will address one of the inherent risks of space settlement. The hosting organization, the Space Frontier Foundation, and judges congratulate the winners and thank all the finalists for their participation. The awards were presented on July 28th at the NewSpace Awards Gala, the culminating event of the NewSpace 2012 Conference.
“All three of the winners provide key disruptive technologies and are outstanding candidates for institutional funding,” said Thomas M. Atchison, one of five competition judges and Chairman of the Mavericks Civilian Space Foundation. “These companies, their products, technologies and services, will bring down the barriers to commercial activity in space.”
The judges feel that all of the finalists deserved to be in the running and that the competition was very strong. The judges encourage all the finalists to continue to seek funding, as all are viable. The finalists presented their business plans to the entire NewSpace 2012 Conference on July 27th, after honing them during the previous two days of business plan boot camp with industry professionals and investment experts.
“This competition is becoming the premier event for finding investment opportunities and deals related to disruptive technologies of the future,” said Eva-Jane Lark, a competition judge and vice-president of the BMO Nesbitt Burns investment firm in Canada. “I recommend all institutional and angel investors look to the 2013 NewSpace Business Plan Competition for more innovative technologies to consider.”
The Space Frontier Foundation and judges would like to extend their heartiest thanks to NASA’s Emerging Commercial Space Office for its generosity in providing funding for this prize. The dramatic increase in prize money inspired a new level in the quality and quantity of competitors. By supporting this competition, NASA and the Office of the Chief Technologist are truly enabling commercial space companies to meet its needs and the needs of the space industry as a whole, and we hope to see further support from NASA for this type of activity in the future.
The Space Frontier Foundation also sincerely thanks the judges, boot camp coaches, sponsors and all who worked on the 2012 NewSpace Business Plan Competition. Their contributions were truly invaluable.
Company Descriptions:
Space Ground Amalgam provides inflatable satellite reflector components to meet and increase higher industry bandwidth demands, while reducing launch costs and increasing design flexibility. Their technology can also be used for booms and solar arrays. The founders are Rick Sanford, Michael Potter, Chris Stott, Dr. Raz Itzhaki Tamir and Daniel Rockberger. They are seeking funding of $3.5M and their market consists of satellite companies for HDTV, Mobile TV, high-speed Internet, bi-directional cellular, NASA, GPS, military, industry and academia. www.spacegroundamalgam.com
Digital Solid State Propulsion, LLC has created the world’s first “smart energetic materials” that are a game-changing platform technology for diverse industries and applications. DSSP’s high performance electrically controlled solid and liquid propellants replace the 50-year old technologies that are still the industry standards today. The founder is Dr. Wayne Sawka and DSSP is seeking $6M in funding. The target markets are space and tactical rocket propulsion, gun systems, ignition systems, warheads, oil/mining explosives and entertainment pyrotechnics. www.dsspropulsion.com
Terapio Corporation is a biopharmaceutical company developing therapeutics based on the membrane-associated RLIP76 protein. Initial applications include developing the RLIP76 protein as a countermeasure for radiation exposure to civilian, military and first responder populations. The founders are consists of Dr. Casey Cunningham, Kevin Lalande and Dr. Sanjay Awasthi. They are seeking $10M in funding. Their target markets include an unmet public safety and national defense need both domestically and abroad, with customers such as the NIH, DoD and NASA. The estimated global market size for radiation countermeasures (RCM) is $400M annually. www.terapio.com
