Astroscale Holdings, a Japan-based space tech startup, is raising $153 million via initial public offering (IPO) at Tokyo.

Astroscale said in a statement on Thursday that it intends to use the IPO proceeds primarily towards project development and research and development (R&D).

According to the statement, the IPO involved a global offering of 28.05 million shares of common stock (including the over-allotment option shares) at an initial IPO price of ¥850, values the company at ¥98.7 billion ($632 million).

It is noted that Astroscale is the first space debris removal company to conduct an IPO and the second space industry global IPO in Japan, following ispace Inc.’s global IPO in 2023.

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