Intuitive Machines LLC is working with a special-purpose acquisition company to enter into a deal to go public with a space research infrastructure provider at a valuation of more than $1 billion, a company official said.
Houston-based Intuitive Machines provides data and technology for small spacecraft, robots and more to support lunar missions by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and others. NASA has struck a deal with Intuitive to bring the Nova-C lunar lander to the moon and use one of his “hopper” robots from the company on another lunar mission. Both operations are part of his NASA Artemis program and will be in operation over the next few years.
Intuitive merged with SPAC Inflection Point Acquisition Corp. The Wall Street Journal previously reported that the two sides were moving toward a deal.
Intuitive — founded nearly a decade ago by industry veterans Steve Altemus, Kam Ghaffarian, and Tim Crain — is a space mission accelerated by companies like NASA and Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies corp. It’s one of many startups hoping to capitalize on the anticipated boom. be promoted. , or SpaceX, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin LLC, Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc.
“These are essential services that the country needs,” Altemus, now Intuitive’s CEO, said in an interview. “We are in the right position at the right time to open space for trade and a return to the moon.”
It aims to alleviate some of the business uncertainties that have plagued other companies in the industry by providing basic infrastructure, software and data to various customers.
The merger would come amid a recession for both space exploration startups and SPACs, which have been hit hard by rising interest rates and a plummeting stock market. Shares of Virgin Galactic, Astra Space and other public space companies have fallen recently.
Several companies he had previously announced SPAC mergers with, including Italian space logistics company D-Orbit SpA and weather data firm Tomorrow.io, eventually canceled them. Many startups that postponed plans to go public through SPACs or his traditional IPO later chose to raise funds privately.
Arthemus said he is confident in the deal because the company has a stable backlog of government and corporate contracts and will be able to generate profits from several different business units. A SPAC, also known as a blank check company, is a shell company that raises funds and trades publicly for the sole purpose of merging with a private company to go public. The listed company will replace his SPAC on the stock exchange after the regulator approves the transaction. In recent years, such combinations have developed into popular alternatives to his traditional IPOs, especially for startups. The Inflection Point SPAC has approximately $330 million and Intuitive can also be used to grow the business. SPAC trades allow investors to withdraw their funds before closing. Many investors have done so in other recent deals. SPAC is supported by Kingstown Capital Management LP.
In the event that a large number of investors withdraw, the agreement between the SPAC’s creators, a firm co-founder, and outside investors would guarantee Intuitive Machines more than $100 million in cash.
News Summary:
- Intuitive Machines, a space exploration startup, is on the verge of a $1 billion SPAC merger
- Check all news and articles from the latest Space news updates.
