MP Space’s $23m Raise Gives Sydney’s Space Hardware Scene A New Manufacturing Test
Sydney-founded MP Space has raised $23 million to expand spacecraft-power manufacturing, putting a locally based hardware business at the centre of a high-stakes scale-up.
MP Space co-founders Sam Paterson and Jay Manley.
Sydney startup MP Space has raised $23 million in seed funding to build more spacecraft power systems in Australia, putting a locally based hardware company into the difficult next stage that follows a headline funding round: manufacturing at scale.
The company was founded in early 2024 by former Tesla engineers Jay Manley and Sam Paterson. Its platform is designed to generate, store and manage power for spacecraft — a job that becomes more demanding as satellites carry heavier payloads and do more processing onboard.
Blackbird led the round, with Systemiq Capital, Speedinvest, MFV Partners and Seraphim Space also backing the company. MP Space says the capital will go toward manufacturing capacity, a broader range of power systems and growth in its Australian engineering team.
That makes the story more than a funding announcement. Space businesses are often judged on the gap between a promising design and a repeatable, reliable product line. MP Space says its hardware has been selected for missions involving more than 500 spacecraft, with its first hardware headed to space earlier this month.
Manley and Paterson bring battery and power-system experience from Tesla. Manley moved to Sydney in 2021 after eight years with Tesla's powertrain and energy engineering teams, while Paterson had worked on Tesla battery packs as well as roles at Apple, Zoox and Sydney cultivated-meat startup Vow.
MP Space is based at Cicada Innovations' Defence and Aerospace Hub in Sydney. For the local innovation ecosystem, the test now is whether a small specialist team can turn capital, engineering talent and early customer interest into a dependable Australian production capability.
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