SpaceTech: Growing at Light Speed
SpaceTech startups are taking off with funding from the public and private sectors, looking to capitalize on the growing value chain of the space economy. Out-of-this-world technologies are already helping to save lives on our planet as part of an industry which is expected to grow to a trillion dollars in the next few years.
We hosted a group of distinguished industry experts, breakthrough startups and funds, for an in-depth look at SpaceTech’s real-world applications in the fields of connectivity, manufacturing, motors and fuel, reusable rockets, transportation and more.
Speakers
Amir Blachman, Chief Investment Officer, Axiom Space
Dr. Shay Har-Noy, CEO, Edgybees
Joe Laurienti, CEO, Ursa Major
Dan Wallman, Partner, Balerion Space Ventures
Host: Allie Feuerstein, Director of New Business, International, OurCrowd
Speakers
Amir Blachman
Chief Investment Officer,
Axiom Space
Amir Blachman
Chief Investment Officer
Axiom Space
Amir Blachman today serves as Axiom Space’s Chief Investment Officer, leading the company’s strategic partnerships and fundraising, which today surpasses $500 million. Amir joined Axiom Space in 2016 as the company’s first employee and helped grow it to $2.2 billion in sales and 750 employees. He also played a key role in helping the company win the unique privilege of connecting its new commercial space station to the International Space Station. Prior to Axiom, Amir served as Managing Director of the world’s leading early-stage space investment firm, responsible for funding companies that developed lunar landers, communication networks, Earth imaging satellites, antennae, and exploration technologies. Amir is a seasoned aerospace executive and investor with 25 years’ experience in finance, operations management, sales, board management, compliance, corporate transactions and offerings.
Dan Wallman
Balerion Space Ventures
Dan Wallman
Balerion Space Ventures
Daniel Wallman is a partner at Balerion Space Ventures. Prior to joining Balerion, he was a founding principal at the Explorer 1 Fund.
Daniel was a member of the business development and strategy team at Blue Origin from 2017 to 2019. From 2011 to 2015, he worked for The Boeing Company as an engineer, where his work focused on space exploration and missile defense.
Daniel received his MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and bachelors and masters in aerospace engineering from the University of Southern California.
Shay Har Noy
CEO,
Edgybees
Shay Har Noy
CEO
Edgybees
Dr. Shay Har-Noy (Shy) is the Chief Executive Officer of Edgybees, a cutting edge company making aerial video and satellite imagery more accurate through ML/AI. Shay has extensive experience as an executive at leading satellite companies Spire and DigitalGlobe/Maxar. At DigitalGlobe/Maxar, he was responsible for their Platform business — their high growth effort to get DigitalGlobe’s 15 year digital library in the cloud and available for ML/AI. He also saw first hand the importance of accuracy in large scale automation through his experience at Uber leading the product group responsible for detecting and fixing map errors in real time.
Dr. Har-Noy graduated summa cum laude from Rice University and received a Ph.D in Electrical Engineering with research in image processing from UC-San Diego.
Joe Laurienti
CEO,
Ursa Major
Joe Laurienti
CEO
Ursa Major
Joe Laurienti, Founder and CEO of Ursa Major, is an experienced engineer with a background in propulsion technology manufacturing and development. Joe graduated with a degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Southern California, where he spent time supporting research in fluid dynamics and as part of a group that designed, built, and flew hobby rockets. In his previous roles, Joe worked on numerous engines and spacecraft through development, manufacturing, and flight qualification, including Blue Origin’s BE-3 engine and SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, Merlin engine, and Merlin D Vacuum engine. Joe founded Ursa Major in 2015 to seek a higher level of innovation in space launch by building a team focused wholly on viewing the technical aspects of propulsion through a market lens as opposed to a top-down vehicle fit.
Amir Blachman
Chief Investment Officer,
Axiom Space
Amir Blachman
Chief Investment Officer
Axiom Space
Amir Blachman today serves as Axiom Space’s Chief Investment Officer, leading the company’s strategic partnerships and fundraising, which today surpasses $500 million. Amir joined Axiom Space in 2016 as the company’s first employee and helped grow it to $2.2 billion in sales and 750 employees. He also played a key role in helping the company win the unique privilege of connecting its new commercial space station to the International Space Station. Prior to Axiom, Amir served as Managing Director of the world’s leading early-stage space investment firm, responsible for funding companies that developed lunar landers, communication networks, Earth imaging satellites, antennae, and exploration technologies. Amir is a seasoned aerospace executive and investor with 25 years’ experience in finance, operations management, sales, board management, compliance, corporate transactions and offerings.
Dan Wallman
Balerion Space Ventures
Dan Wallman
Balerion Space Ventures
Daniel Wallman is a partner at Balerion Space Ventures. Prior to joining Balerion, he was a founding principal at the Explorer 1 Fund.
Daniel was a member of the business development and strategy team at Blue Origin from 2017 to 2019. From 2011 to 2015, he worked for The Boeing Company as an engineer, where his work focused on space exploration and missile defense.
Daniel received his MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and bachelors and masters in aerospace engineering from the University of Southern California.
Shay Har Noy
CEO,
Edgybees
Shay Har Noy
CEO
Edgybees
Dr. Shay Har-Noy (Shy) is the Chief Executive Officer of Edgybees, a cutting edge company making aerial video and satellite imagery more accurate through ML/AI. Shay has extensive experience as an executive at leading satellite companies Spire and DigitalGlobe/Maxar. At DigitalGlobe/Maxar, he was responsible for their Platform business — their high growth effort to get DigitalGlobe’s 15 year digital library in the cloud and available for ML/AI. He also saw first hand the importance of accuracy in large scale automation through his experience at Uber leading the product group responsible for detecting and fixing map errors in real time.
Dr. Har-Noy graduated summa cum laude from Rice University and received a Ph.D in Electrical Engineering with research in image processing from UC-San Diego.
Joe Laurienti
CEO,
Ursa Major
Joe Laurienti
CEO
Ursa Major
Joe Laurienti, Founder and CEO of Ursa Major, is an experienced engineer with a background in propulsion technology manufacturing and development. Joe graduated with a degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Southern California, where he spent time supporting research in fluid dynamics and as part of a group that designed, built, and flew hobby rockets. In his previous roles, Joe worked on numerous engines and spacecraft through development, manufacturing, and flight qualification, including Blue Origin’s BE-3 engine and SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, Merlin engine, and Merlin D Vacuum engine. Joe founded Ursa Major in 2015 to seek a higher level of innovation in space launch by building a team focused wholly on viewing the technical aspects of propulsion through a market lens as opposed to a top-down vehicle fit.
Amir Blachman
Chief Investment Officer,
Axiom Space
Amir Blachman
Chief Investment Officer
Axiom Space
Amir Blachman today serves as Axiom Space’s Chief Investment Officer, leading the company’s strategic partnerships and fundraising, which today surpasses $500 million. Amir joined Axiom Space in 2016 as the company’s first employee and helped grow it to $2.2 billion in sales and 750 employees. He also played a key role in helping the company win the unique privilege of connecting its new commercial space station to the International Space Station. Prior to Axiom, Amir served as Managing Director of the world’s leading early-stage space investment firm, responsible for funding companies that developed lunar landers, communication networks, Earth imaging satellites, antennae, and exploration technologies. Amir is a seasoned aerospace executive and investor with 25 years’ experience in finance, operations management, sales, board management, compliance, corporate transactions and offerings.
Dan Wallman
Balerion Space Ventures
Dan Wallman
Balerion Space Ventures
Daniel Wallman is a partner at Balerion Space Ventures. Prior to joining Balerion, he was a founding principal at the Explorer 1 Fund.
Daniel was a member of the business development and strategy team at Blue Origin from 2017 to 2019. From 2011 to 2015, he worked for The Boeing Company as an engineer, where his work focused on space exploration and missile defense.
Daniel received his MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and bachelors and masters in aerospace engineering from the University of Southern California.
Shay Har Noy
CEO,
Edgybees
Shay Har Noy
CEO
Edgybees
Dr. Shay Har-Noy (Shy) is the Chief Executive Officer of Edgybees, a cutting edge company making aerial video and satellite imagery more accurate through ML/AI. Shay has extensive experience as an executive at leading satellite companies Spire and DigitalGlobe/Maxar. At DigitalGlobe/Maxar, he was responsible for their Platform business — their high growth effort to get DigitalGlobe’s 15 year digital library in the cloud and available for ML/AI. He also saw first hand the importance of accuracy in large scale automation through his experience at Uber leading the product group responsible for detecting and fixing map errors in real time.
Dr. Har-Noy graduated summa cum laude from Rice University and received a Ph.D in Electrical Engineering with research in image processing from UC-San Diego.
Joe Laurienti
CEO,
Ursa Major
Joe Laurienti
CEO
Ursa Major
Joe Laurienti, Founder and CEO of Ursa Major, is an experienced engineer with a background in propulsion technology manufacturing and development. Joe graduated with a degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Southern California, where he spent time supporting research in fluid dynamics and as part of a group that designed, built, and flew hobby rockets. In his previous roles, Joe worked on numerous engines and spacecraft through development, manufacturing, and flight qualification, including Blue Origin’s BE-3 engine and SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, Merlin engine, and Merlin D Vacuum engine. Joe founded Ursa Major in 2015 to seek a higher level of innovation in space launch by building a team focused wholly on viewing the technical aspects of propulsion through a market lens as opposed to a top-down vehicle fit.
Amir Blachman
Chief Investment Officer,
Axiom Space
Amir Blachman
Chief Investment Officer
Axiom Space
Amir Blachman today serves as Axiom Space’s Chief Investment Officer, leading the company’s strategic partnerships and fundraising, which today surpasses $500 million. Amir joined Axiom Space in 2016 as the company’s first employee and helped grow it to $2.2 billion in sales and 750 employees. He also played a key role in helping the company win the unique privilege of connecting its new commercial space station to the International Space Station. Prior to Axiom, Amir served as Managing Director of the world’s leading early-stage space investment firm, responsible for funding companies that developed lunar landers, communication networks, Earth imaging satellites, antennae, and exploration technologies. Amir is a seasoned aerospace executive and investor with 25 years’ experience in finance, operations management, sales, board management, compliance, corporate transactions and offerings.
Dan Wallman
Balerion Space Ventures
Dan Wallman
Balerion Space Ventures
Daniel Wallman is a partner at Balerion Space Ventures. Prior to joining Balerion, he was a founding principal at the Explorer 1 Fund.
Daniel was a member of the business development and strategy team at Blue Origin from 2017 to 2019. From 2011 to 2015, he worked for The Boeing Company as an engineer, where his work focused on space exploration and missile defense.
Daniel received his MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and bachelors and masters in aerospace engineering from the University of Southern California.
Shay Har Noy
CEO,
Edgybees
Shay Har Noy
CEO
Edgybees
Dr. Shay Har-Noy (Shy) is the Chief Executive Officer of Edgybees, a cutting edge company making aerial video and satellite imagery more accurate through ML/AI. Shay has extensive experience as an executive at leading satellite companies Spire and DigitalGlobe/Maxar. At DigitalGlobe/Maxar, he was responsible for their Platform business — their high growth effort to get DigitalGlobe’s 15 year digital library in the cloud and available for ML/AI. He also saw first hand the importance of accuracy in large scale automation through his experience at Uber leading the product group responsible for detecting and fixing map errors in real time.
Dr. Har-Noy graduated summa cum laude from Rice University and received a Ph.D in Electrical Engineering with research in image processing from UC-San Diego.
Joe Laurienti
CEO,
Ursa Major
Joe Laurienti
CEO
Ursa Major
Joe Laurienti, Founder and CEO of Ursa Major, is an experienced engineer with a background in propulsion technology manufacturing and development. Joe graduated with a degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Southern California, where he spent time supporting research in fluid dynamics and as part of a group that designed, built, and flew hobby rockets. In his previous roles, Joe worked on numerous engines and spacecraft through development, manufacturing, and flight qualification, including Blue Origin’s BE-3 engine and SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, Merlin engine, and Merlin D Vacuum engine. Joe founded Ursa Major in 2015 to seek a higher level of innovation in space launch by building a team focused wholly on viewing the technical aspects of propulsion through a market lens as opposed to a top-down vehicle fit.
Amir Blachman
Chief Investment Officer,
Axiom Space
Amir Blachman
Chief Investment Officer
Axiom Space
Amir Blachman today serves as Axiom Space’s Chief Investment Officer, leading the company’s strategic partnerships and fundraising, which today surpasses $500 million. Amir joined Axiom Space in 2016 as the company’s first employee and helped grow it to $2.2 billion in sales and 750 employees. He also played a key role in helping the company win the unique privilege of connecting its new commercial space station to the International Space Station. Prior to Axiom, Amir served as Managing Director of the world’s leading early-stage space investment firm, responsible for funding companies that developed lunar landers, communication networks, Earth imaging satellites, antennae, and exploration technologies. Amir is a seasoned aerospace executive and investor with 25 years’ experience in finance, operations management, sales, board management, compliance, corporate transactions and offerings.
Sign Up With OurCrowd
OurCrowd is the online global venture investing platform that empowers institutions and individual accredited investors to invest and engage in emerging technology companies at an early stage. Acclaimed by PitchBook as the most active venture investor in Israel every year since 2013, OurCrowd vets and selects companies across all sectors and stages, invests its own capital, and provides its global platform of over 225,000 registered members from 195 countries with unparalleled access and freedom to co-invest from as little as $10,000 in the companies of their choice.
Founded by CEO Jon Medved in 2013 with the vision of democratizing world-class venture capital investing, OurCrowd has grown rapidly into the world’s leading online venture investing platform and as of 2025 has over $2.3 billion in commitments, and deployed capital into more than 480 portfolio companies and 58 funds across five continents. To date, OurCrowd’s startups have recorded 68 exits including several public market listings: Beyond Meat (BYND), Lemonade (LMND), Innoviz (INVZ), Arbe (ARBE), Alpha Tau (DRTS), Freightos (CRGO); and numerous high-profile acquisitions: JUMP by Uber, BriefCam by Canon, Argus by Continental, Crosswise by Oracle, Replay by Intel, Corephotonics by Samsung, CyberX by Microsoft, and Kenna Security by Cisco
OurCrowd builds value for its portfolio companies throughout their lifecycles, providing mentorship, recruiting industry advisors, navigating follow-on rounds and creating growth opportunities through its network of multinational partnerships.