Chinese satellite maker MinoSpace seeks $736 million in IPO

HELSINKI — Chinese satellite maker MinoSpace has seen its initial public offering application accepted, seeking $736 million for constellation and product expansion plans.

MinoSpace’s initial public offering application to Shanghai’s STAR Market was accepted May 11, according to the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s disclosure system, with Chinese language media subsequently reporting the development. 

The company plans to use the IPO as a platform to build phase one of the 112-satellite Taijing constellation, approved by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), which will comprise a mix of optical, multispectral and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites. Taijing satellites already launched include China’s first submeter-resolution commercial X-band and Ku-band SAR satellites. 

The IPO prospectus lists defense entities among its customer categories. A separate section of the prospectus describing the remote sensing satellite industry notes military reconnaissance as one application alongside civilian uses.

MinoSpace also plans construction of a research and development center, research and development for satellite platform components, a next-gen communications satellite, and a new SAR payload production facility. 

MinoSpace, officially known as Beijing Weina Star Technology Co., Ltd., and founded in 2017, has launched 32 satellites, according to the IPO prospectus, and has a production line rated at 150 satellites per year in the city of Wuxi. Its revenue in 2025 was $57 million (385 million yuan), with core aerospace product revenue up 1,692 percent year on year, but suffered a net loss of $26.6 million, narrowed from $88 million in 2023. It claims an order backlog of more than $147 million, including a contract worth $115 million to build a remote sensing constellation for Sichuan province.

The development follows changes to STAR Market eligibility rules that are easing listing pathways for commercial space firms. While launch startups such as Landspace, CAS Space, Galactic Energy and Space Pioneer are already advancing towards IPOs, MinoSpace’s application represents a similar development for commercial satellite makers. Changguang Satellite, a Chinese Academy of Sciences institute remote sensing spinoff, restarted an IPO in early 2026, more than a year after withdrawing its STAR Market application in December 2024. Spacety, another satellite manufacturer and one on the U.S. Entity List, recently raised $190 million while also eyeing an IPO.

More broadly, these developments are part of a ramping up of satellite production in China, arising along with dozens of facilities spanning state-owned institutes, commercial firms and regionally-backed clusters, amid strong political backing for commercial space and the emergence of major constellation projects. There is also a concurrent surge in launch company funding rounds and IPO applications taking place as the country aims to ease a related bottleneck in access to space.