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Space Florida Connecting Aerospace Entrepreneurs With Investors, Cash

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Space Florida wants to match early stage aerospace companies with private investors. The state agency is also offering up $100,000 in prize money at a forum in November.

The inaugural Florida Aerospace Capital Forum is looking for early stage, Florida based aerospace companies to compete for the prize money and pitch their ideas to private investors. The prize will be split between the top three companies at the Lake Nona forum.

Space Florida’s Tony Gannon said as larger companies like Blue Origin ramp up business in the area, they’ll need other companies to add to the supply chain. “They come up with good ideas and eventually develop into mature companies creating employment increasing the entire aerospace business.”

He said the purpose of these so called capital accelerators is to encourage young businesses. The industry is in need of capital, and the state agency has worked over the past few years to bring investment dollars to Florida.

“Space Florida has been responsible for raising over $175 million for the participating companies of which we’re very proud of and what we would call a very good return on investment,” said Gannon.

The event, co-sponsored by the Florida Venture Forum, will host all sorts of aerospace companies, focusing on things like 3D printing, cyber security, data analytics and satellite communication and other  industries.

The deadline to apply for the forum is October 1.

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Brendan Byrne is WMFE's Assistant News Director, managing the day-to-day operations of the WMFE newsroom, editing daily news stories, and managing WMFE's internship program.

Byrne also hosts WMFE's weekly radio show and podcast "Are We There Yet?" which explores human space exploration.