Maties join the space race
The Stellenbosch University spinout CubeSpace is ready to transform the global satellite industry
With a venture capital investment of R47m, a Stellenbosch University spinout that produces satellite control systems is ready to transform the global satellite industry.
CubeSpace co-founder and CEO Mike-Alec Kearney’s ambition is to have its products on every satellite “out there”. Already known for controlling 300 satellites and being endorsed by US space agency Nasa, the company aims to grow in the US and European markets, strengthening support for its client base.
The funding from the University Technology Fund (UTF) and Savant Venture Fund comes with few conditions other than to “make more money and grow”, Kearney, 35, tells the FM.
It is the first investment accepted by CubeSpace, which until now has been funding its development and growth through profit. Kearney says the funders are well aligned with what CubeSpace wants to achieve. “If you don’t have perfect alignment between your investors and the guys operating the company then you’ve got tension and the investors start determining the direction the company is going in, which shouldn’t be the case. These investors are on board with the goal of growing the company, its value, market base and the products.”
Building on many years of research by the university’s electrical and electronic engineering department, led by Prof Herman Steyn, CubeSpace has developed a low-cost modular system capable of controlling any size satellite.
“Gone are the times when satellite manufacturing was reserved for governments of First-World countries ... This will help researchers, private companies and governments globally to build satellites a lot quicker, with smaller teams and at much lower cost,” says Kearney in a statement announcing the investment.
UTF CEO Wayne Stocks says: “CubeSpace embodies the UTF’s vision to invest in South African university technology with global potential. This is the fund’s largest investment to date, reflecting our confidence in the company. Their outstanding performance in a promising sector has us excited to support their ambitious goals. We’re thrilled to fuel their journey.”
Before becoming CEO 11 years ago, Kearney was a student in Steyn’s department. He holds two engineering master’s degrees. He has been learning about management on the job, growing from student entrepreneur to leading an enterprise with a staff of 51 and an impressive 50% annual growth over the past four years. The company has a particularly strong engineering team.
One of Kearney’s first assignments had been to negotiate spinout agreements with the university. “We got to a solution that works extremely well.”
CubeSpace benefited in its early years from credibility enhanced by having premises in the university’s LaunchLab business accelerator, access to Stellenbosch University trademarks and equipment, support in its establishment as a company and being surrounded by like-minded entrepreneurs.
Kearney is wary of sounding as if he is pivotal to the company’s success. In a podcast by The African CEO, he says: “It’s important to get your mindset and your principles right and be a good leader and be a good example. It’s also super important to realise that your influence is limited ... always remember that it’s the team that’s making the [company] successful.
“Without the team, without the university being there, without the background, without the professor, without the other shareholders, without the opportunity that we had ... if any one of those things had not been there, we would not have been successful.”
Enabled by the new funding, CubeSpace last month moved from cramped facilities on campus to a new building in Stellenbosch’s Technopark. Kearney, who enjoys carpentry, built the board table and cupboards. The company will be establishing offices in Europe and then the US.
Anita Nel, chief director for innovation and commercialisation at Stellenbosch University, has been involved since CubeSpace’s inception. She heads Innovus, a division of the university responsible for technology transfer, entrepreneurial support and development, and innovation. The university has about 30 spinout companies operating under University of Stellenbosch Enterprises (Pty) Ltd.
She says candidates for spinouts must have worldclass technology applied by passionate teams with potential.
“The investment in CubeSpace is a great case study, demonstrating that local university technology is an overlooked but very promising asset class,” she says.
She tells the FM her office’s role is to protect and commercialise the university’s inventions and intellectual property to show that its research is not just “blue sky”, but relevant and meaningful to society.
“It’s important to us to get as many as possible of the university’s technologies to market to show that the university makes a difference also in the lives of ordinary people,” Nel says.