Recently, Galaxy Space completed its IPO counseling filing with the Beijing Securities Regulatory Bureau, which means that this commercial aerospace unicorn, valued at 10 billion, has officially launched its sprint towards the capital market. Similar to many private commercial aerospace companies, the rapid development of Galaxy Space also relies heavily on substantial capital support, including multiple rounds of investment from well-known investors such as Ge Weidong and Lei Jun.

On March 30, Galaxy Space completed its IPO counseling filing with the Beijing Securities Regulatory Bureau, with Huatai United Securities as the counseling institution.

As a "newcomer" in the commercial aerospace field, Galaxy Space has completed 8 rounds of financing since its establishment, attracting support from top institutions such as Hillhouse Capital and IDG Capital, and also receiving "olive branches" from big names like Ge Weidong and Lei Jun.

In terms of valuation, since the A+ round in November 2018, Galaxy Space's "worth" has increased from several billion to 32 billion, indicating that early investors like Ge Weidong and Lei Jun have made substantial profits. Once successfully listed, Galaxy Space's valuation in the secondary market is expected to rise further.

Billion-dollar Galaxy Space sprints for IPO

Catalyzed by the boom in commercial aerospace, another unicorn valued at 10 billion has initiated its IPO.

On March 30, Galaxy Space completed its IPO counseling filing with the Beijing Securities Regulatory Bureau, with Huatai United Securities as the counseling institution. According to public information, Galaxy Space was established in April 2018 and is a provider of satellite internet solutions and satellite manufacturers dedicated to the independent research and development and low-cost mass production of communication payloads, core units, and satellite platforms.

In addition, Galaxy Space is also responsible for developing the National Grid Constellation (GW Constellation) satellite internet 07 group of satellites, marking the first mass production of such satellites by a private commercial aerospace company, with the group of satellites scheduled for successful launch in August 2025.

The commercialization is supported by research and manufacturing capabilities. Currently, the company has built internationally leading levels of supporting research and development capabilities for communication payloads, core units, and solar wings in Xi'an, Chengdu, and Beijing, and is constructing a next-generation satellite intelligent manufacturing factory in Nantong, capable of mass-producing hundreds of satellites.

As of January 19, 2026, Galaxy Space has successfully launched over 40 technologically advanced satellites that it developed independently, including the world's first high-frequency low-orbit millimeter-wave satellite, China's first batch-produced low-orbit broadband communication satellites, China's first satellite using flexible solar wings, batch-produced SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) satellites, and remote sensing satellites for mid-high atmospheric edge detection.

With advanced technology and strong mass production capabilities, Galaxy Space has also gained recognition from numerous clients and successfully secured orders worth billions.

Ge Weidong and Lei Jun behind the scenes

As a "newcomer" in private commercial aerospace, Galaxy Space was born with a golden spoon.

Shortly after Galaxy Space was established, founder Xu Ming's former employer, Cheetah Mobile Chairman Lei Jun's Shunwei Capital, extended an olive branch, participating in the A round of financing, along with Wuyuan Capital and IDG Capital After receiving investments from Lei Jun and other investors, Galaxy Space quickly welcomed a "breakthrough." In October 2018, the company successfully launched the satellite-borne high-performance computing and space imaging experimental payload "Yuqian No. 1" into space; the following year, the Galaxy Space team successfully developed low Earth orbit satellite payloads in the Q/V frequency band, as well as the first domestic 10Gbps capacity low Earth orbit satellite communication system, which is feasible for low cost and mass replication.

With the continuous development of Galaxy Space, the company initiated another round of financing in 2020. In the B+ round of financing, Chaos Investment, led by Ge Weidong, also joined in, and investors such as Matrix Partners China, China International Capital Corporation, Shunwei Capital, Wuyuan Capital, and Junlian Capital continued to invest; after this round, the company's valuation increased to 8 billion. In September 2022, Chaos Investment participated in the company's B++ round of financing, indicating Ge Weidong's favor towards Galaxy Space.

By early 2026, SpaceX's IPO plan made domestic commercial space companies a "hot commodity" in the primary and secondary markets, and investors began to scramble for related companies that had not yet gone public.

Naturally, Galaxy Space was one of the beneficiaries, with its pre-financing valuation in the C round approaching 17 billion, and it planned to raise 2-3 billion. The final participants included Beijing Jingguo Guan Equity Investment Fund, Wuxi Liangxi Science and Technology Innovation Fund, Yizhuang Guotou, Wuxi Transportation Group, Hefei Industrial Investment, Beijing Commercial Space and Low-altitude Economic Industry Investment Fund, as well as a number of previous investors from several rounds.

After this round, Galaxy Space's valuation rose to 32 billion, and in less than 8 years, the company's valuation had increased tenfold, with early investors Lei Jun's Shunwei and Ge Weidong's Chaos reaping substantial profits.

Cheetah Mobile President Xu Ming's Second Entrepreneurship

Xu Ming, a master's graduate from the Mechanical Engineering Department of Harbin Institute of Technology, the top of the "Seven Sons of National Defense," previously served as CTO and President of Cheetah Mobile, and after 6 years of entrepreneurship, led Cheetah Mobile to list on the New York Stock Exchange in 2014.

From early interviews, it is known that Xu Ming had a strong desire for signal interconnectivity due to the underdeveloped signals in his hometown during his childhood. In 2011, Xu Ming accidentally watched a documentary about the Hubble Space Telescope, through which he saw the brilliant remnants of the Big Bang and nebulae existing as clearly as in "Inception," thus igniting his vague aspiration to establish interaction with space through devices.

At that time, 5G was just becoming popular, and areas such as oceans and deserts were difficult to cover with base stations. Based on this, Xu Ming set a goal to provide 5G satellite communication services globally. It had only been a year since Musk publicly revealed SpaceX's Starlink concept and Boeing first disclosed its satellite internet plan.

At the age of 40, in April 2018, Xu Ming's Galaxy Space officially began operations in Haidian, Beijing. At that time in China, only a few military industrial institutions were undertaking the task of overcoming technical challenges related to low Earth orbit satellites. Globally, low Earth orbit satellites were still in the planning and development phase, and industry professionals were "rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns." In order to find relevant talent, Xu Ming returned to his alma mater, Harbin Institute of Technology, to consult professors. He invited Deng Zongquan to serve as the chairman of the technical committee and Zhang Shijie to be the chief scientist. Deng Zongquan is an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the vice president of Harbin Institute of Technology, as well as the director of the key national defense discipline laboratory for aerospace and control technology. Zhang Shijie is a professor and doctoral supervisor at Harbin Institute of Technology, with over 20 years of experience in the design and development of small satellites, having participated in the development of multiple models of small satellites.

While there were professionals who understood manufacturing, the company still lacked internet and business leaders. Therefore, Xu Ming poached two people from his former employer, Cheetah Mobile: Chang Ming and Gao Qianfeng, with Chang Ming responsible for artificial intelligence algorithms and Gao Qianfeng in charge of global business development.

From the shareholder list, it appears that Deng Zongquan and Zhang Shijie do not directly hold shares in Galaxy Aerospace. However, Chang Ming and Gao Qianfeng hold shares in Galaxy Aerospace through the employee stock ownership platform "Nantong Mantian Yixing Information Technology."

Additionally, the other two individual shareholders at the company's inception, Dai Xuguang (a former Alibaba engineer and a friend of Xu Ming in the tech circle) and Shen Ronghua (one of the founders of Galaxy Aerospace and a founding shareholder), hold shares in Galaxy Aerospace through the employee stock ownership platform "Xi'an Interstellar Communication."

2026 marks the 8th year of Xu Ming's second entrepreneurial venture and is also the year Galaxy Aerospace officially attempts to go public with an IPO. This IPO attempt represents an important leap for both Xu Ming and Galaxy Aerospace.

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