In 2010, then-President Barack Obama instructed NASA to provide grants to private companies to let them develop spacecraft. This shift in space policy from government-controlled has created a massive opportunity for the private sector to fully get involved in space aviation for the first time. In 2020, SpaceX launched its first flight with humans on board, transporting two astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). Looking to capitalize on this new frontier is Epsilon3, a LA startup comprised of engineers and designers from SpaceX, Google, and Northrop. The company, founded during the pandemic, is building the operating system to power space launches. Most of the existing software used on space missions are legacy and derive from space exploration’s heyday in the 1960s and do not serve the sophisticated needs of today’s industry. Epsilon3 integrates workflows and data in real-time and provides a comprehensive operational management solution that results in fewer errors, increased efficiency by reducing engineering hours needed, and offers continuous improvement through analytics.
LA TechWatch caught up with CEO and Cofounder Laura Crabtree to learn more about how her experience working on 100+ space launches led to her “AHA” moment to build Epsilon3, the company’s future plans, and recent round of funding.
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
Pre-Seed, $1M, MaC Venture Capital, Stage Venture Partners, and assorted strategic angels.
Tell us about your product or service.
Epsilon3 is the OS for spacecraft operations.
Our vision is to contribute to the future of space operations by building the industry standard of operational software.
What inspired the start of Epsilon3?
We are a team of engineers and designers from Northrop, Google, and SpaceX, where we ran operations first-hand to bring American astronauts to the ISS. We saw how current operations tools are often neglected in a program lifecycle, and that results in inefficiency, errors, and added costs over the course of a project. I worked firsthand on over 100 launches, including training and coordinating operations for multiple astronauts who successfully traveled to space and back. Epsilon3 is the result of decades of learning and delivers on the promise of making space missions as efficient, error-free, and enjoyable as possible.
How is it different?
Epsilon3 arms operators with the best possible tools throughout an entire project’s lifecycle, which are 10X more efficient and operator-friendly. Most software tools in the space industry are legacy systems or proprietary internal tools that only solve only pieces of the problem. We are building a full suite of software that integrates with critical data and workflows and is designed from the ground up in a modern, user-friendly way to help operators do their job more efficiently and with less room for error (and increased automation over the long run).
What market you are targeting and how big is it?
Our initial focus is the space industry, which is a quickly growing market spanning launch providers, satellite operators (including the booming cubesat/nanosat industry), and manufacturers for space and aviation. There are hundreds of such companies already in the market. The launch service industry alone is expected to reach $18 billion by 2026. The global space industry is expected to generate revenue of more than $1 trillion by 2040.
What’s your business model?
SaaS.
How has the business impacted by COVID-19?
We were born during COVID and have started and continue to operate fully remotely for the time being. Luckily, this is not as impactful to us as we are building software.
What was the funding process like?
We were very lucky to receive a lot of generous investor support very quickly. Through our own networks, we quickly secured initial key angel commitments and several early-stage institutions wanted to join thereafter. We completed the round in about 3 weeks.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
Initially, it was getting the very first commitments and not knowing how long that would take; later it was working diligently to select the right investor partners for our first round of funding and making all the allocations work.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
Investors were excited about the space industry, my deep experience and network, a demonstrated and experienced problem we saw firsthand, our early customer traction, and my cofounders’ past startup experience. It was a combination of industry, traction, and team profile that got them excited.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
Get several companies using our platform for live operations as part of an early pilot program to build on their feedback and hone our product.
What advice can you offer companies in Los Angeles that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
Talk to as many people as you can about what you’re building and ask for introductions from friends and colleagues to anyone who can help. Talk to as many potential customers as early as possible to make sure you’re building something people want and get those people to start testing your product quickly.
Talk to as many people as you can about what you’re building and ask for introductions from friends and colleagues to anyone who can help. Talk to as many potential customers as early as possible to make sure you’re building something people want and get those people to start testing your product quickly.
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
We are looking forward to supporting the early teams using our platform and turning them into long-time users and advocates of the platform. We plan on quickly growing our engineering team and our customer footprint, bringing on many players in the space industry onto our platform quickly so they can collaborate and work together to make their missions successful.
What is your favorite restaurant in LA?
Nobu.
