WASHINGTON — Kleos Space, a Luxembourg based startup that operates signals-intelligence satellites, has run out of cash and will file for bankruptcy.
The company’s financier on July 25 informed Kleos Space that it will no longer extend additional credit, a spokesman for Kleos Space, Lou Weis, said July 26 in a statement to SpaceNews.
Kleos Space’s financing has been run by Pure Asset Management, an Australian investment firm. Kleos Space today notified the Australian Securities Exchange it plans to file for bankruptcy after failing to raise more money.
In a separate filing earlier this month, the company revealed it had problems with a couple of the satellites it had launched and had to write them off.
Radio-frequency data collection
Kleos Space launched three clusters of four satellites to detect radio-frequency signals and pinpoint their location. It has provided RF monitoring data to government and commercial customers, and was one of several vendors that last year signed agreements with the National Reconnaissance Office to provide RF data.
After it was unable to secure funding, “the company’s board has had no alternative but to acknowledge that the Company is unable to meet its financial commitments as they fall due, and that there is no prospect of viable alternative financial accommodation,” Weis said.
“Accordingly, it will petition the relevant commercial district court in Luxembourg for a bankruptcy adjudication,” he said. Kleos Space is preparing documentation to support the petition, which must be filed within 30 days.
Weis said Kleos Space, despite its financial collapse, has “many things to be proud of. We developed and delivered new, highly disruptive technology that was helping to solve security challenges and also built a global customer base including numerous government agencies.”
He said the company suffered a series of setbacks due to space launch delays, satellite development issues, and faced challenges accessing capital.