Japan Moon Lander Startup ispace Soars After Public Market Debut

Shares trade at ¥1,135, more than four times IPO price
Its first lunar lander launched via SpaceX rocket in December

An artist rendering of ispace’s Mission 2 lander on the lunar surface.Source: ispace Inc.

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By Min-Jeong Lee and Takahiko Hyuga

April 13, 2023 at 3:02 AM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Japan’s ispace Inc., which makes moon landers, soared in its public market debut as investors bet on the startup’s prospects for supporting space development efforts.

Shares traded at ¥1,135 on Thursday in Tokyo, more than four times the ¥254 offering price. The stock was untraded on Wednesday because of the imbalance between orders, though it was quoted at ¥585. Its market valuation reached almost $700 million.