◼️ Overview and Purpose of the Funding Round
Under the vision of "Kicking open the frontier of space from Kyushu," we operate from Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka — a city renowned for its manufacturing — building on the microsatellite development track record (approximately 30 satellites) that Kyushu Institute of Technology has accumulated over many years.
Our strength lies not only in handling the entire process from mission study through design, manufacturing, testing, and operation in an integrated manner, but also in developing "satellite hardware and software products" in-house together with our partner companies — including deployable solar array paddles for small satellites and operation-and-control systems. While building an "End-to-end microsatellite service" that delivers every step of satellite development as a one-stop offering, we will standardize and mass-produce satellite hardware and software products and supply them externally, thereby taking on a role in the supply chain that supports satellite development both in Japan and abroad.
With this funding, we will accelerate research and development aimed at further improving the reliability of our satellite systems, while strengthening collaboration with business partners and expanding our organizational structure.
◼️ Building a Microsatellite Manufacturing Supply Chain in the Kyushu Region
Even before our founding, we advanced our commercialization preparations with support from the GAP Fund of "PARKS (Platform for All Regions of Kyushu & Okinawa for Startup-ecosystem)," a platform for creating university-originated startups across Kyushu and Okinawa. After founding, we were selected for Kitakyushu City's "Corporate Transformation, Startup and Growth Support Program," the "FY2025 Research and Development Grant" of the Fukuoka Financial Group Foundation for Enterprise Development, and the Fukuoka Prefecture Space Business Study Group's "FY2025 Space-related Business Product and Service Development Support Program," strengthening a locally rooted technology-development structure.
In addition, in cooperation with Kitakyushu City's Space Industry Promotion Office, we are advancing matchmaking with local manufacturers in Kitakyushu that handle precision machining and circuit-board production, and collaboration has already begun from the prototyping and machining stage. As a result, the formation of a supply chain within the Kyushu region is concretely taking shape from the earliest stages of development.
By connecting private companies, academic and research institutions, and local governments across Kyushu with our company as the hub, and by strengthening a development structure that encompasses both satellite hardware and software, we will accelerate cluster formation through industry-academia-government collaboration and aim to establish a space-industry ecosystem originating from Kyushu.
◼️ Comments from Investors
Mr. Takahiro Nakamura — Representative Director & CEO of Midtown Inc. / founding shareholder and former Director & COO of ispace
The "first generation" of domestic space startups has entered a phase of maturity through going public. The model they pioneered is, so to speak, a heavyweight model premised on large-scale fundraising, long development cycles, and securing global talent.
Meanwhile, the "second generation" that will emerge in earnest from here on is beginning to pursue lighter, more agile growth strategies. Kick Space Technologies, led by Mr. Sato, possesses both the technical capability and the driving force to realize that agile model. Resonating with their clear strategy and passion — aiming to scale up while balancing speed and capital efficiency by focusing on the small-satellite domain — I have made an angel investment this time. I want to support their future growth with everything I have.
Mr. Noriaki Ozaki — Representative of S-factory
A world where services such as communications, positioning, and observation via constellations centered on small satellites in low Earth orbit are "taken for granted" is fast approaching. It is, in effect, a paradigm shift in which information that used to be captured as points becomes lines and planes. As a result, all kinds of services will be renewed, and the participation of non-space players will accelerate further. What underpins this is our company's reliable satellite development, manufacturing, and supply chain, backed by technical capability and experience. I am cheering on the passionate challenge of Mr. Sato and his colleagues — who are also my juniors at Kyushu Institute of Technology, which has long led this field — capable and dedicated engineers, as they take on a part of Japan's space industry from Kitakyushu and expand it further to the world.
Mr. Kaname Kojima — Representative Director of Adnics Inc.
I am very pleased to have been able to invest in Kick Space Technologies, led by Mr. Sato, a former intern at Adnics Inc. I have great expectations that the company will further develop its business around small satellites while inheriting the technology we have cultivated in developing wireless communication equipment for small satellites, and I wholeheartedly support their challenges ahead.
◼️ Comment from Rin Sato — Representative Director & CEO, Kick Space Technologies Inc.
I am truly delighted to welcome such wonderful investors this time. We are honored to have East Ventures — who guided me into the startup industry and is also my old home — along with HERO Impact Capital and NYC Inc., who walked alongside us from the stage when we had only a business concept before founding, as well as individual investors active at the forefront of the space industry.
Going forward, we will take on the challenge of reliably implementing into society the microsatellite technology cultivated over many years at Kyushu Institute of Technology, connecting research results to real industries and missions. We also aim to grow our company into a hub that serves as a node for technology, talent, and industry, and to contribute to building an ecosystem that leaps from Kyushu to the world.
◼️ Comment from Kei Sano — Technical Advisor, Kick Space Technologies Inc.
Thank you very much for the support we have received from such wonderful investors.
At Kyushu Institute of Technology, we are energetically conducting research and development of microsatellites. Recently, we were selected for the JAXA Small Satellite Rush Program (JAXA-SMASH), an industry-academia-government program to expand transportation and microsatellite missions, and — in collaboration with multiple academic institutions and companies — we are advancing the development of the microsatellite astronomy mission VERTECS (Visible Extragalactic background RadiaTion Exploration by CubeSat). The JAXA-SMASH Program calls for microsatellite development and for commercialization based on its results, and through the development of VERTECS we have shaped our business concept.
Through the development of VERTECS and other microsatellites, we will bring the technology and research results acquired by Kyushu Institute of Technology into social implementation and contribute broadly to microsatellite missions.
◼️ Would You Like to Work With Us at a Space Startup in Fukuoka?
Taking this funding round as an opportunity, we are strengthening recruitment across the fields of microsatellite design and manufacturing and business development. Based in Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka, and collaborating with university research institutions and local manufacturers, we are looking for colleagues to "kick open the frontier of space from Kyushu."
What we aim for is to bring together the power of manufacturing and university research results, starting from Kyushu, to create a new space-industry model. We are looking for colleagues to take on this "industry launch phase" together — expanding the technology and ecosystem born here to the whole of Japan and the world. Precisely because we are based in a regional area, there is an environment where you can feel the tangible sense of building an industry yourself and experience life as a true challenger.
We welcome a wide range of people, from students and young engineers to seasoned professionals. If you think "I want to compete in the space industry from Kyushu" or "I want to deliver research results to space using microsatellites," please start walking with us.
▼ Careers page
https://kickspacetech.notion.site/recruit
◼️ About Kick Space Technologies Inc.
Kick Space Technologies Inc. provides integrated support for microsatellites, from mission study through satellite design, testing, and operation. To meet our customers' diverse missions, we can perform customized design according to customer requirements, building on the technology cultivated at Kyushu Institute of Technology. We anticipate the adoption of our services across a wide range of missions, including Earth observation, satellite communications, and space-science research.
We are also advancing in-house development of hardware and software products for small satellites, providing deployable solar array paddles, wireless communication devices, operation software, and more to small-satellite operators. Under the vision of "kicking open the frontier of space," we will pursue our business with the goal of conducting space-science missions — not limited to low-Earth-orbit missions but, in the future, including our own deep-space exploration missions.
Company name: Kick Space Technologies Inc.
Head office: 1-1 Sensui-cho, Tobata-ku, Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka (within Kyushu Institute of Technology)
Founded: July 18, 2025
Officer: Rin Sato, Representative Director & CEO
Employees: 14 (including advisors and interns)
Business: Microsatellite integration business and related services
URL: https://www.kickspacetech.com/
◼️ Media Inquiries Regarding This Release
Kick Space Technologies Inc., Public Relations — Email: info*kickspacetech.com (please replace * with @ when sending).