Canada-based Fortuna Investments is making its U.S. debut in Miami Beach, with plans to invest in the up-and-coming space industry.
The venture capital firm currently has a small office at 1800 Sunset Harbor Drive and plans to add personnel in Miami this year. It is also establishing an office in Los Angeles to have a West Coast presence.
Founded in 2015, Fortuna invests in high-growth sectors such as space, electric vehicles, robotics, metals and mining, clean tech and agriculture tech. The firm develops long-term partnerships with entrepreneurs in those emerging sectors.
“The space industry really is the next frontier — and both the time and environment are right to provide capital and partner with the entrepreneurs and companies leading the way," said Fortuna founder and CEO Justin Parmar.
The firm has already made its first Florida investment. Fortuna reports it invested an undisclosed amount in Starfighters Space, a Cape Canaveral company that operates an active fleet of F-104 aircraft that can launch small payloads into space. Starflight's customers include Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory.
Fortuna's portfolio companies include Millennial Lithium, a mineral company sold to Lithium Americas for $460 million in 2021. Another, called American Lithium, began trading on the Nasdaq last month.
Florida leaders hope to make the state one of the global centers of the emerging space economy. The sector was valued at more than $469 billion in 2021, when international output of rockets, satellites and more grew by 9% year-over-year, the Space Foundation reports. The small satellite market alone is projected to grow to $54 billion by 2030.
The Sunshine State is already home to more than 16,000 aviation and aerospace ventures, with many based on the Space Coast. One of those is Boca Raton's Terran Orbital, a small satellite manufacturer that went public in 2021. Last October the company announced it will not move forward with a planned $300 million manufacturing center in Florida and will instead build the facility in California.
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