Seraphim Capital Appoints Candace Johnson as New Venture Partner and Chair of Advisory Board

LONDON, March 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The world's leading space-dedicated venture firm Seraphim Capital has today announced that serial space entrepreneur Candace Johnson will join as partner. Ms. Johnson has a long and distinguished career as founder/co-founder of such space ventures as SES ASTRA, SES Global, Loral-Teleport Europe, Europe Online, as well as having played critical roles in bringing about space sector leaders including Iridium and ILS.

An experienced venture capitalist and investor, Ms. Johnson has been a member of the Strategic Committee of Iris Capital for the past decade and until recently has served as President of the European Business Angel Network, now President Emeritus.  Ms. Johnson serves and has served on the boards of a number of emerging space leaders including NorthStar Earth and Space and Kacific.  She is also the founding president of the VATM, the Association of Private Telecom Operators, co-founder of the Global Telecom Women's Network (GTWN) and co-founder of the Middle East and North Africa Business Angel Network (MBAN) and the African Business Angel Network (ABAN). 

In her role as Chair of the Seraphim Space Global Advisory Board Ms. Johnson will preside over the committee including corporate backers from the industry including Airbus, Telespazio and SES along with representatives from European Space Agency and the Satellite Applications Catapult. A broad range of additional corporates from the space industry will also join once Seraphim concludes its new Global Space Fund.

"I am delighted to be joining peers from around the world to fuel not only 'New Space' but also a 'New Era in Space'," commented Ms. Johnson on her appointment.  "The world has never needed so much connectivity, so much interconnectivity and so much interactivity.  Space ventures play a critical role in providing the necessary infrastructures, services, and applications.  This "New Era in Space" is bringing together governments, corporations, and entrepreneurs to realise visions of creating a better life on earth through the utilisation and exploration of space and space-enabled data." 

"We are proud to have a global icon like Candace Johnson joining the team. She is one of the most experienced and globally active "New Space" entrepreneurs and investors in the world," said Mark Boggett, CEO of Seraphim. "SES has grown to become one of the world's most successful space businesses, now with a market cap of €8bn. We can think of no one better to give us the thought leadership necessary to support existing activities alongside the raising and deployment of the new Seraphim Space Global Fund."

Candace joins a strong line-up of other partners at Seraphim who have successfully founded and scaled giant international space-related businesses including Michael Jones, co-founder of Google Earth and Matt O'Connell co-founder of earth observation leader GeoEye sold to Digital Global for $1.3bn.

About Seraphim Capital

The world's leading space-venture firm Seraphim Capital manages Seraphim Space Fund which is funded by a range of multi-national corporates including Airbus, SES, Telespazio, E2V Teledyne and Rolta. Seraphim also operates their Space Camp Accelerator which is backed Inmarsat, Rolls Royce, Cyient, DSTL along with the UK and European Space Agencies. Seraphim Managing Partners include Silicon Valley based Michael Jones (founder of Google Earth), New York based Matt O'Connell (co-founder GeoEye, ex CEO of One Web). Alongside Space Tech Angels Seraphim has built a portfolio of over 30 spacetech and dronetech startups including Spire Global, Iceye and LeoLabs. The firm is currently raising the Seraphim Space Global Fund which will include a broad range of additional space, aerospace and drone related multinational corporates.

About Ms. Johnson

In addition to the activities mentioned above, Ms. Johnson is currently Vice Chair of NorthStar Earth and Space, Co-Founder/Member of the Board of OWNSAT (Oceania Women's Network Satellite), co-founder of EBAN Space and has mentored and invested in numerous "New Space" start-ups throughout the years. In addition to her space-related activities, Ms. Johnson is President Emeritus of EBAN, Strategic Committee Member of Iris Capital, and President/Co-founder of numerous angel investment funds. She is also a member of the Board of Store Electronics Systems- Imagotag (SESL - Paris Next) and EDHEC, a leading French business school.  She has been a member of the International Advisory Boards of Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Sabanci University (Istanbul) and KACST International Innovation and Entrepreneurial Advisory Board (Riyadh). Among other distinctions, Ms. Johnson has been decorated with the Commander of the Order of Merit and the Officer of the Oak Leaf Crown from Luxembourg as well as the Officer of the Order of Merit from the Federal Republic of Germany and has received Lifetime Achievement Awards from the World Telecommunications Awards and Women in Aerospace Europe and an honorary doctorate from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.