UnaStella, the country's first private crewed space launch vehicle, selected for TIPS

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Passed TIPS through the newly introduced “fast track” this year, securing KRW 500 million in research funding over two years
Domestic first private crewed space launch vehicle startup founded in February this year, secures seed investment from Bluepoint Partners just one month after founding

(Unastella – 2022.05.12) Korea's first private crewed space launch vehicle startup, Unastella Co., Ltd. (CEO Park Jae-hong), has been selected as a final recipient of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups' private-investment-led technology startup support program 'TIPS (Tech Incubator Program for Startup)'. TIPS is a government-backed startup nurturing program in which the government and private investors jointly identify promising startups with excellent business models and strong technological capabilities and provide them with intensive support.

Unastella said it was selected for the TIPS program through a recommendation from TIPS operator and accelerator Bluepoint Partners, securing KRW 500 million in technology development and research funding for two years from May 2022 to April 2024. In particular, Unastella drew attention by passing TIPS's review process through the 'fast track.' The 'fast track' is a newly introduced system this year, a recommendation scheme that allows startups that receive very high marks in the document screening to skip the in-person evaluation and move directly to selection and agreement.

Unastella is Korea's first private crewed launch vehicle startup, founded in February this year. One month after its establishment, in March, it secured seed (early-stage) investment from Bluepoint Partners, and subsequently was selected for the TIPS program, securing initial R&D funding. Unastella aims to provide suborbital space tourism services by developing a launch vehicle capable of crewed spaceflight up to an altitude of 100 km, and is currently designing and developing its own engine based on an electric motor-pump cycle engine system.

Unastella CEO Park Jae-hong said, “A crewed space launch vehicle will become an essential platform in the space era that is sure to unfold in the future,” adding, “Based on the technology we have accumulated and our efficient development philosophy, Unastella will pioneer Korea's space tourism market.”

A Bluepoint Partners official, who led Unastella's investment and TIPS selection, said, “We invested in Unastella after comprehensively evaluating the launch vehicle experience, domestic and international network, vision, and spirit of challenge of its CEO, who came from the German Aerospace Center.” “We highly value the emergence of a startup in Korea developing a crewed spaceflight launch vehicle,” the official added. (End)