The private Russian space company SR Space (JSC SR Space) is considering the possibility of holding a pre-IPO round in the summer. Vedomosti was informed about this by two sources close to the deal. At this stage, the issuer plans to raise about 1.5 billion rubles. in cash-in format. SR Space plans to place shares on the stock exchange (IPO) three to four years after the pre-IPO transaction. A company representative told Vedomosti that the company is considering entering the capital markets and will announce the deal when it is ready.
SR Space is an aerospace holding company that includes 8 subsidiaries. The company develops suborbital and orbital launch vehicles (LV) of ultra-light and light classes, and small spacecraft (SSV) and provides services for the deployment of various satellite constellations.
SR Space (until 2022 – Success Rockets) was founded in July 2020 by Oleg Mansurov, who currently holds the position of CEO. According to Spark-Interfax, the company is 100% owned by Russian citizens. In 2023, Mansurov said that 60% of the company’s capital was formed by his savings, and the remaining 40% came from private investors. A company representative clarified to Vedomosti that these are 13 people.
At the end of 2021, Mansurov announced the company’s plans to go public through a SPAC (special purpose acquisition company). This is a specially traded shell company that is created and listed for the purpose of merging with another private company that goes public without an IPO. At the moment, such a scenario is not being considered, a company representative clarified to Vedomosti.
According to the company, the holding’s revenue according to RAS in 2020 amounted to 8.5 million rubles, in 2021 – 8 million rubles, in 2022 – 47.8 million rubles, and in 2023 – 183 million rubles. (3.8 times year on year). At the same time, the representative of SR Space emphasized that the holding fully reinvests the profit it generates into business and product development and does not withdraw anything from the company.
In April 2021, the company successfully conducted the first flight tests, and in December, the first test launch of the Nebo-25 rocket from the Kapustin Yar test site in the Astrakhan region. In March of this year, SR Space launched Russia’s first service for monitoring greenhouse gases from space. Subsidiaries of SR Space are residents of the innovative scientific and technological centers Sirius and Aerospace Innovation Valley.
In June 2023, SR Space signed an agreement with the IT holding T1 (developer and integrator of software and equipment) for the joint launch of a suborbital rocket. But in May, Kommersant wrote that back in August of that year the holding refused to participate in the program. SR Space CEO Oleg Mansurov confirmed to the newspaper that cooperation was suspended due to a change in management at T1. A representative of SR Space clarified to Vedomosti that the company has not closed the project and continues to work on it, while looking for a new partner, but is counting “first of all on its own strength.”
SR Space was included in the US blocking sanctions list against the defense industry sector on June 12, 2024. The reason is the production of engines, the development of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and systems for their detection and suppression. Mansurov stated that being included in the sanctions list would not affect the development of the company “either at the moment or in the long term.” Management initially built all processes at SR Space allowing for this possibility, he added.
On Wednesday, July 17, the Federation Council approved at a meeting the law on the application of concession agreements and public-private partnership agreements (PPP) in the field of space activities. PPP mechanisms will be used in projects to provide broadband Internet access and remote sensing of the Earth, as part of the study of greenhouse gas flows.