ENVALITH
株式会社ispace logo

ispace, inc.

9348・Growth Market・Services

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株式会社ispace logo
ispace, inc.9348

Business

ispace, Inc. is a private space company that provides lunar transportation and exploration services using its own in-house developed landers and rovers, under the vision "Expand our planet. Expand our future." The company operates globally through a four-entity structure spanning Japan, the U.S., and Luxembourg, providing Payload Service and Data Service to a wide range of customers, from government space agencies (JAXA, NASA, ESA, etc.) to private companies and research institutions. Having accumulated technical and operational know-how through two lunar landing attempts—Mission 1 in 2022 and Mission 2 in 2025—the company aims to transition to a commercialization phase starting with Mission 3 (ULTRA lander), scheduled for launch in 2028.

Business Model

The main revenue source is the customer payload transport service loaded onto landers and rovers, priced at a base rate of US$1.5 million per kg for lander payloads and US$3.5 million per kg for rover payloads. The company adopts a prepaid contract structure in which the full amount is collected between contract signing (1 to 3 years before launch) and the actual launch. Revenue is recognized over the mission period according to the percentage of completion. Looking ahead, the company plans to expand into a SaaS-type subscription model that provides lunar data accumulated through missions via the cloud, aiming to build a highly profitable data business on the foundation of stable revenue from the Payload Service.

Company Strengths

In Mission 1 (2022) and Mission 2 (2025), the company demonstrated reliable transportation capability to lunar orbit and stable attitude and guidance control functions in both missions. All mission data, including data from the landing failure, is being utilized in development for Mission 3 and beyond, and the company holds one of the world's highest numbers of lunar landing attempts among private companies.

The company has secured development funding from multiple government-affiliated programs, including selection for Japan's Space Strategy Fund Phase 1 (up to ¥4.7 billion) and Phase 2 (support cap of ¥20.0 billion), selection for the SBIR subsidy (subsidy cap of ¥12.0 billion), and selection for NASA CLPS Task Order CP-12 (initially approximately US$54.5 million, later increased to approximately US$62.18 million). Cash and cash equivalents at the end of FY2026 (ending March 2026) reached ¥29,690 million.

Development, manufacturing, and testing of landers and rovers are divided among three sites—the Tokyo head office, the U.S. subsidiary in Denver, and the Luxembourg subsidiary—leveraging locations in close physical proximity to JAXA, NASA, and ESA to absorb lunar development needs across countries. As of March 31, 2026, the company employed approximately 200 specialized engineers in lander development and operations, comprising a multinational and multidisciplinary workforce.

ENVALITH's Perspective

A significant correction was issued just 13 days after the May 15, 2026 financial results report was published, on May 28. The corrections spanned multiple areas: (1) the consolidated statement of cash flows (misclassification of CF related to foreign exchange forward contracts: operating CF revised from ¥-13,190 million to ¥-13,568 million, investing CF revised from ¥-2,203 million to ¥-1,825 million); (2) non-consolidated results (ordinary loss revised from ¥-4,572 million to ¥-12,867 million, net loss for the period revised from ¥-4,582 million to ¥-12,878 million, total assets revised from ¥49,465 million to ¥41,170 million); (3) the consolidated earnings forecast for FY2027 (ending March 2027) (operating loss revised from ¥-11,700 million to ¥-17,700 million); and (4) a change in the impairment grouping method for fixed assets. The scale of the correction to non-consolidated results was particularly large, posing a risk of undermining investor confidence in the effectiveness of internal controls.

The revised consolidated earnings forecast for FY2027 (ending March 2027) is as follows: project revenue of ¥9,000 million (+50.8% year on year), net sales of ¥3,300 million (-0.2% year on year), operating loss of ¥-17,700 million (a ¥6,000 million deterioration from the pre-correction figure of ¥-11,700 million), ordinary loss of ¥-13,000 million, and net loss attributable to owners of parent of ¥-13,000 million. The forecast of a significant expansion in operating loss despite roughly flat net sales appears to reflect the impact of upfront recognition of development costs associated with the postponement of Mission 3 (from 2026 to 2027). Given the cash balance of ¥29,690 million against the scale of the annual operating CF deficit (¥-13,568 million), it is highly likely that another round of fundraising will be required within the next two to three fiscal periods.

In addition to consecutive shortfalls for Mission 1 (2023) and Mission 2 (2024), the launch of Mission 3 has been postponed from 2026 to 2027. This has resulted in the deferral of revenue recognition, causing consolidated net sales for FY2026 (ending March 2026) to decline sharply to ¥3,307 million (down 30.2% from ¥4,743 million in the prior period). While technical uncertainty in space development is a common external factor across the industry, the company has now failed to meet its schedule and performance targets three times in a row. The change to consolidate the impairment grouping for fixed assets into a single group-wide unit as of the current consolidated fiscal year is a change that makes it easier to avoid recognizing impairment, and the intent behind this change in accounting policy warrants close attention.

Growth Strategy

Three-stage growth path: establish high-frequency missions → scale up payload capacity → build data platform

Mission 3 launch using the APEX 1.0 lander is planned for 2027. A successful launch would mark the company's first successful lunar landing, establishing customer trust and accelerating orders for subsequent missions. Given the consecutive shortfalls in Missions 1 and 2, demonstrating technical reliability is the top priority.

Payload Service contracts totaling USD 40 million have already been signed for Mission 4 (including an USD 8 million contract with Taiwan's National Space Organization). These are expected to be a major component of the projected project revenue of ¥9,000 million for FY2027 (ending March 2027).

The company is leveraging its selection for the second round of the Space Strategic Fund's "Lunar Polar Region High-Precision Landing Technology" support program, with a support cap of ¥20 billion, to cover part of its development costs through subsidies. Subsidy receipts reached ¥2,584 million in FY2026 (ended March 2026), offsetting a certain portion of the operating loss. Continuation of government support policy is a prerequisite.

As of May 2025, the company held a potential order pipeline totaling USD 662 million in signed MOUs and similar agreements. Following the success of Mission 3, the company aims to convert this pipeline into confirmed orders, expanding revenue by leveraging the APEX 1.0 lander's large payload capacity (up to 300–500kg).

Last updated: July 19, 2026