Most companies in Google’s competition have similar plans, including Cape Canaveral-based start-up Moon Express, which counts Chinese gaming giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. among its investors.
Japanese companies have a history of fascination with space. In 2014, Otsuka Holdings Co. announced plans to deliver a can of its Pocari Sweat drink to the moon’s surface. In 1990, TBS sent a journalist on a Soviet rocket to the Mir space station.
“Among Series A funding rounds, this one is the biggest ever for Japan and the biggest globally for a space-related start-up,” Hakamada said.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.