Gilmour Space Technologies is on the cusp of making history as the first Australian-made rocket to go into orbit. Its founder explains how this family-run company and its board approach risk, regulations and high-stakes rewards.
After 20 years in investment banking and finance, including as MD of Citi, Adam Gilmour made an unusual career pivot when he decided to start a space company on the Gold Coast. He founded Gilmour Space Technologies in 2013 with his brother, James, with the aim of bringing down the costs associated with accessing space by building smaller, more efficient rockets.
“I wanted to have at least two careers in my life and I’ve always been very interested in space,” says Gilmour, who is the company’s CEO. “I had quite a bit of capital I could deploy and so I thought, maybe I’ll take the leap.”
From Bowen to beyond
Following eight years of hard graft, Gilmour Space Technologies is about to launch its first rocket, called Eris, into orbit from the Queensland town of Bowen. It will be the first of potentially several test flights ahead of planned commercial launches from 2025. The Eris rocket is designed to transport dishwasher-sized satellites into space for the purposes of, among other things, improving telecommunications services and Earth observation technologies (for bushfire detection, water quality management and crop monitoring).
The 25m, 36-tonne rocket is fully assembled and ready to go from the company’s launch pad in North Queensland. The Bowen Orbital Spaceport — designed, built and funded by Gilmour Space Technologies on a site leased from the state government — was recently granted the country’s first orbital launch facility licence. However, the company is waiting on a launch date that can only be determined after it receives launch permit approval from the Australian Space Agency.
Despite putting an incredible amount of work into the lead-up to sending the first Australian- made and designed rocket into orbit, Gilmour is realistic about the chances of success. “Statistically speaking, every first rocket that’s ever been launched by a new space company has failed to get to orbit,” he says. “We have tested everything vigorously, but as with all new rocket technologies, there is a high likelihood that not everything will go according to plan. It’s a learning process.”
Gilmour believes that the continuous testing and retesting has helped bring about a culture of accountability and transparency. “One of the bedrocks of the company is not to blame or shame anyone for reasonable decisions made in good faith,” he says. “We’re building new rockets that can travel at 25 times the speed of sound. There’s a lot of complexity involved and things will go wrong. But every failure is a learning opportunity that gets us closer to space. We’ve had this philosophy since the beginning and it creates a culture of transparency in the business. We have a culture of owning up to our mistakes — and we encourage it.”
Across the board
In addition to growing the business, the Gilmour Space Technologies board oversees its risk management strategies — from work, health and safety issues, to the specific policies, procedures and risk hazard analyses around testing and launching rockets in Australia.
Gilmour chairs the five-member board, which includes investors Blackbird VC founder Rick Baker and Main Sequence Ventures partner, Martin Duursma. “Rick was the first brave investor to see the potential of what we’re doing, and he is on the board of successful companies like Canva and SafetyCulture,” says Gilmour. “He often shares the best practices he’s seen and is very focused on safety.”
Duursma has a strong tech background and good relationships with key people in government. “That is important, because when you’re an orbital launch company, you’re very involved with the government,” says Gilmour. “Not just from a regulatory point of view, but from a national significance and national security point of view.”
Gilmour’s brother, co-founder and fellow director James, is in charge of the site and launch operations. His team was responsible for building strong relationships with local First Nations people and obtaining the many environmental and regulatory approvals along the way.
Skin in the game
Gilmour and his wife, Michelle, who is also a director and head of communications, have invested their own savings into the company, which employs around 200 staff at its Gold Coast headquarters and the Bowen launch site.
While the company has raised $143m in venture capital funding to date, Gilmour says having skin in the game has made him more conservative with spending than he otherwise would have been. “Having a bit of conservatism in the early days of a rocket company is a good thing. I’ve seen a lot of American rocket companies spend a lot of money and take on a lot of risk, and it hasn’t worked out very well.”
Gilmour Space Technologies’ latest funding round in February raised $55m, and the company’s value soared to more than $605m.
“We’re proud to have funded Adam and the team over the past eight years or so, through a number of investment rounds and the evolution of the company’s team and development of their new hybrid rocket,” says Baker. “In less than a decade, the company has spearheaded the local space industry with the production of the first Australian-owned, designed and built orbital vehicle. The company has made these incredible strides on a relatively small amount of capital raised — compared to the successful space launch companies out there — and with the upcoming orbital launch, it is on the cusp of something really special.”
Gilmour has noticed a growing interest in space among private investors, who recognise that it is a critical pillar of modern society. “The fundamental returns come from the satellites and the data that they send back to Earth, such as in the form of payments for broadband services,” says Gilmour.
Ultimately, the long-term vision for Gilmour Space Technologies is to become a top-five player in the global space market. “Our goal is to have the capability to go to ‘All Orbits, All Planets’ — to any planet in the solar system or any orbit of Earth.”
This article first appeared under the headline 'Rocket Man’ in the September 2024 issue of Company Director magazine.
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