Montreal-based satellite startup NorthStar Earth & Space Inc. says it intends to

go public

on the New York Stock Exchange by merging with

special acquisition purpose company

(SPAC) Viking Acquisition Corp. I as investor interest in the space sector grows.

The transaction, expected to close in the third quarter, will boost NorthStar’s valuation to US$300 million, with the company set to receive US$30 million from New York private-equity firm Cartesian Capital Group LLC and other unnamed institutional investors from Canada and the United States.

NorthStar, which provides data and other services from its platform of space-based sensors, plans to use the money to pay for engineering costs and launch expenses, which include placing and integrating sensors on satellites.

“At this critical juncture, becoming a public company provides NorthStar with unprecedented access to capital to scale our operations,” NorthStar founder and chief executive Stewart Bain said in a statement on Friday.

Founded in 2015, NorthStar has raised US$100 million to date from public and private investors. The startup received early support from the federal and Quebec governments, which invested $13 million each in 2018 to help it build a satellite constellation for earth and space monitoring.

NorthStar has secured contracts with Canadian, U.S. and European governments, including contracts with national space agencies, as well as a commercial contract with the United Arab Emirates’ space tech company Space42 PLC.

Last month, Ottawa said $900 million will be directed to innovation under Canada’s Defence Industrial Strategy as part of its commitment to grow investments in defence to $82 billion over five years. A NorthStar spokesperson said the company’s core mission “directly” aligns with Ottawa’s defence priorities to “protect critical assets in space and serve as a front line of defence.”

Investor interest in the dual-use space has surged as governments boost spending on space-based security, surveillance and communications technology.

Investors this year poured a record US$36 billion into space companies in the first quarter compared to US$6.7 billion in the same period a year ago, according to venture-capital firm Space Capital LP.

An initial public offering by Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp., which is set to come later this year and could be the biggest IPO ever at US$75 billion, is also likely to grow interest in the sector.

A December 2025 report by the Royal Bank of Canada said the global space economy is on track to triple in value to US$1.8 trillion over the next decade, while the opportunities in Canada could amount to more than $21 billion if it can generate $12 billion in new capital for homegrown space ventures during the same timeframe.

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• Email: ylau@postmedia.com