Shey Sabripour, CesiumAstro Founder, Winning the Hearts of Investors to Reach New Heights

Cesiumastro Inc. is a Texas-based company that constructs high-throughput payloads for in-orbit and airborne platforms. The multi-mission software and hardware products that Cesiumastro builds enable different defence and commercial intents. Shey Sabripour has been running this company since the year 2017. Read on to find out more about Cesiumastro.

Get To Know Shey Sabripour, CEO and Founder of CesiumAstro

Shey’s successful career spanning over 3 decades showcased his extraordinary skills as a leader. He found success in designing, launching vehicles, developing, and carrying out GEO and LEO telecommunication satellites, and different interplanetary space conveyances.

Earning Degrees

In 1985, Shey earned a B.S. degree from the North Dakota State University in Electrical and Electronics Engineering. He moved on to pursue further education in executive business management along with electrical engineering from different institutions. These include Carnegie Mellon University, New Jersey Institute of Technology, University of Maryland, and Santa Clara University.

Early Career

Shey studied at the Lockheed Martin Center for Leadership Excellence, after which he started working at Lockheed Martin Space Systems. Here he worked continuously for 24 years, first in the role of a design engineer, then technology innovator, and then program manager.

Finally, Shey earned the Director of Spacecraft Design position. Here he spearheaded a 370-professional team including scientists, business professionals, and engineers. He had to oversee missions whose budgets ranged between $100 million and $ 1 billion.

Professional Success and Recognition

Between the years 2001 and 2005, he took the Director of Agile Payload Program role, to guide a multidisciplinary team. This team was responsible for the first Lockheed Martin Commercial Active Phased Array Payload’s development, design, qualification, and eventually flight success.

His final job at Lockheed Martin Space Systems included designing, developing, qualifying, and producing the U.S. Navy’s first ‘MUOS communication satellite’. Lockheed Martin Corporation recognized Shey’s efficiency in the roles of a program leader and visionary innovator 14 times. Among other accolades, Shey earned the ‘Person of the Year’ title at the Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems in 2005.

Shey Sabripour took up the CTO role at Firefly Space Systems between 2014 (September) and 2016 (December). Firefly Space Systems is a private aerospace company in Austin, Texas. Here Shey had to oversee the Alpha Rocket’s program and technical management. Shey played a key role in building an 11-member-engineer- team into one with over 160 team members by 2016.

At Firefly, Shey’s team was successful in bidding and winning the ‘NASA VCLS’ mission along with two ‘DARPA’ contracts.

A Detailed Look into CesiumAstro Salary Package

According to LinkedIn, Cesiumastro presently employs 51 to 200 employees. Here’s a look into some major Cesiumastro salary packages:

• The ‘Accountant’ profile comes with an estimated $79,148 annual salary package.
• The ‘Business Development Manager’ profile comes with an estimated $145,782 annual salary package.
• The ‘Bid and Proposal Analyst’ profile comes with an estimated $86,733 annual salary package.
• The ‘Corporate Accountant’ profile comes with an estimated $69,849 annual salary package.
• The ‘Buyer’ profile comes with an estimated $72,360 annual salary package.
• The ‘Data Analyst’ profile comes with an estimated $82,402 annual salary package.
• The ‘Corporate Communications Lead’ profile comes with an estimated $135,123 annual salary package.
• The ‘Director of IT’ profile comes with an estimated $122,965 annual salary package.
• The ‘Executive Assistant’ profile comes with an estimated $81,943 annual salary package.
• The ‘Electronics Lab Technician’ profile comes with an estimated $65,010 annual salary package.
• The ‘Head of Finance’ profile comes with an estimated $152,106 annual salary package.
• The ‘IT Support Technician’ profile comes with an estimated $56,694 annual salary package.
• The ‘Inventory Control Specialist’ profile comes with an estimated $42,384 annual salary package.
• The ‘IT System Administrator’ profile comes with an estimated $92,557 annual salary package.
• The ‘PCB Librarian’ profile comes with an estimated $102,536 annual salary package.
• The ‘Office Administrator’ profile comes with an estimated $43,890 annual salary package.
• The ‘Pricing and Proposal Analyst’ profile comes with an estimated $86,733 annual salary package.
• The ‘Supply Chain Manager’ profile comes with an estimated $129,746 annual salary package.
• The ‘Procurement Analyst’ profile comes with an estimated $86,162 annual salary package.
• The ‘Talent Acquisition’ profile comes with an estimated $58,378 annual salary package.
• The ‘Technical Writer’ profile comes with an estimated $93,145 annual salary package.
• The ‘Technical Sourcer’ profile comes with an estimated $73,480 annual salary package.

Learn More about CesiumAstro Funding and Revenue

Cesiumastro Inc. earns an estimated $10 million to $50 million in annual revenue. The company came into the limelight in March 2022, as it secured $89.15 million in funding in total. This came with securing a Series B stage $60 million funding on 2nd March 2022.

10 investors are invested presently in this company. Some of the prominent investors include Forever Ventures, Airbus Ventures, HEICO, L3Harris Technologies, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Lavrock Ventures, and Frank Templeton.

CesiumAstro Stock Information

The present Cesiumastro stock prices are listed below:

In Series A:

• Number of Shares Authorized – 6,031,966
• Par Value – $0.000010
• Dividend Rate ($) – $0.17
• Original Issue Price – $2.06
• Liquidation – $2.06
• Liquidation Pref. Multiple – 1x
• Conversion Price – $2.06
• % Owned – 22.39%

In Seed:

• Number of Shares Authorized – 1,925,000 
• Par Value – $0.000010
• Dividend Rate ($)-$0.07
• Original Issue Price – $0.91
• Liquidation – $0.91
• Liquidation Pref. Multiple – 1x
• Conversion Price – $0.91
• % Owned- 7.14%

Latest CesiumAstro News – Partnerships in 2022

The company, in May 2021, made news by announcing the ‘Cesium Mission 1’ launch, which would work in the form of an ‘on-orbit testbed’. This would allow customers to undertake experiments using an ‘active phased array’ or APA technology featuring an ‘electronically steerable’ multibeam. The company provided a press release to inform us about this launch.

Cesiumastro news in 2022 is about its latest partnership in which it secured funding from investors worth $60 million in a day. The Series B stage oversubscribed funding round resulted in Cesiumastro securing funding from Forever Ventures, Airbus Ventures, and L3Harris Technologies (in strategic participation).

The investors who returned included Lavrock Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, HEICO, and Franklin Templeton Blackhorse Fund. Cesium secured a total of $89.15 million in funding.

CesiumAtro tweeted stating that this investment would play a key role in endorsing the company’s ability in providing their defence and commercial customers using advanced communication systems. It would secure Cesiumastro’s growth trajectory.

Since its inception in 2017, the company has been able to secure $90 million (approximately) in the capital. The most recent funding will help the company to accelerate its growth in development, core research, and swift manufacturing abilities while expanding domestic and international facilities.

Shey Sabripour said that the company felt honoured to receive such strong support from existing and new investors. He added that the support from investors would help the company scale up to bring to life its proprietary technology’s full potential.

The products at Cesium are specifically designed so that they can address different applications including drone and satellite communications, in-flight connectivity, and missile defence. These products come with the ability to deliver a full stack of AESAs or Active Electronically Steered Arrays.

To make the most of the APA technology, Cesiumastro provides a compatible ecosystem. This includes software and hardware using antenna front-ends and RF for covering essential allocations of space frequency. Additionally, they provide a reconfigurable common digital back-end for addressing mission needs using high-throughput communication, even under tight schedules and budget constraints.

Dr. Wen Heish, Kleiner Perkins’s partner, said that the full-stack system that Cesium offers could enable higher and better connectivity speeds inside our evolving space and aerial communications infrastructure. The high resilience that it provides enhances security, while streamlining offerings in airline connectivity, and improves internet connectivity in over-crowded and rural areas.

Thomas d’Halluin, the Managing Partner of Airbus Ventures, said in a statement that Cesiumastro has a unique position in the form of a leader in communication system designs. Cesium can completely optimize the usage of the spectrum while accelerating cost-effective modes to provide advanced connectivity. He further said that Airbus Ventures took pride in being co-leaders in the funding round, standing beside Forever Ventures, who are known for their ability to force-multiply. Thomas added that Cesium would now be able to achieve new heights by changing in-orbit and in-flight communications for widening their array of upcoming challenges.

L3Harris CEO and Vice-Chair, Christopher E. Kubasik, said that being a part of the Cesium team would reflect on the company’s partnering strategy across the industry for swiftly building advanced ‘multi-domain’ solutions to address their customers’ urgent requirements.

Phillip Sarofim from Forever Ventures opined that they were excited to take part in Cesium’s fundraising. He complimented the company for providing satellite systems that gave way to a new phase in radio-frequency sensing and communication that would allow the upcoming generation to get access to easy and affordable communication networks. Phillip added that deploying more efficient and smaller satellite constellations would allow private enterprises to build next-generation communication networks ‘in orbit’, which would help to connect the world in a reliable way.

With more than 80 business professionals, engineers, and scientists, and in-house swift environmental test and prototyping abilities, Cesium now has the capability to cater to production, development, and deploying ‘high-reliability’ systems.

Cesiumastro will be deploying all kinds of assets into space in the coming months. The targeted dates for launching have not yet been announced. PTJ Partners acted as this funding transaction’s financial advisor, while Egan Nelson LLP acted as this company’s legal advisor.