Houston-based Atlas Credit Partners is continuing its investment into technology companies with a sizable credit facility for a West Texas space technology company.
The asset management firm said Aug. 15 that it has committed $100 million in strategic financing to Midland, Texas-based AST SpaceMobile Inc. (Nasdaq: ASTS). Approximately $50 million was funded at closing.
AST is building a satellite-based cellular broadband network with global connectivity to standard cell phones. ACP’s funding allows AST to reach its next milestones of satellite implementation and integration.
AST has approximately $800 million in invested capital to date, according to ACP. The company also has partnerships with AT&T, Vodafone and American Internet.
The $100 million financing follows several other investments on behalf of ACP in 2023. In July, the firm partnered with Irvine, California-based wellness technology company Hyperice for another $100 million credit facility. Hyperice was named to the 2022 Inc. 5000 list as one of the fastest-growing private companies in America.
Meanwhile in March, ACP invested $85 million into Austin-based semiconductor company Coherent Logix Inc. for growth capital. Coherent Logix produces high-power, low-draw semiconductors for the aerospace and defense industries.
Despite a challenging venture capital environment in 2023, new data from equity management firm Carta shows that money in the South is rising. From the first quarter of 2018 to the second quarter of 2023, companies based in the South saw 20% of total VC investment on Carta. Meanwhile, Texas alone captured 4% of all venture funding invested in Q2 2023.
Recent technology fundings in Houston have targeted early-stage biotechnology, energy and aerospace companies. In July, Atlanta-based Resurgens Technology Partners invested part of its $500 million second fund into Houston data provider platform Detechtion Technologies, which serves oil field companies.
Meanwhile in June, the Cancer Focus Fund LP, a venture capital firm associated with the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, invested $4.5 million into Houston-based ImmunoGenesis, a clinical-stage biotechnology company with upcoming trials. ImmunoGenesis said the funding was part of a larger round that would be announced later in 2023.
Houston-based aerospace startup Venus Aerospace, which is designing a transport that can fly nine times the speed of sound, raised $15.9 million in funding and added Airbus Ventures to its investor team in June. Venus is planning a test of its first supersonic drone flight toward the end of 2023.
