Brownsville welcomes 9Point8 Capital: Company to help fund space-industry ventures

9Point8 Capital, a space financial advisory firm, is going to establish an office in Brownsville to provide venture capital for space industry entrepreneurs. 

During a news conference Nov. 8, Joseph Brant Arseneau, the founding partner of 9Point8 Capital, said the company is going to first set up a “back office.”

“We’re going to locate a lot of our back office functions here, like PR, like marketing, like communications,”Arseneau said. “But as the space community evolves and grows here, we’ll have more front office deploying capital here.”

He said once there are local companies here to fund, 9Point8 capital wants to fund them. 

Arseneau explained that “9Point8” refers to the gravity of earth.

He said that “someone told me about Brownsville, and it was a person related to Elon [Musk].”

“And he said Brownsville is going to be important,” Arseneau.

Arseneau has a background in the traditional investment banking industry and worked with JPMorgan Chase & Co. nearly 25 years, John Cowen Jr., Brownsville city commissioner At-Large “A,” said in an interview with The Rider last Thursday. 

“He has the ability to look at projects and ask the right questions and kind of develop a path for new startups that need the capital to start their business and to grow,” Cowen said. “So, he is able to work with those companies and be successful.”

Arseneau has been focused on space and space-related industries, he said. 

“I think that it adds to our pool of resources when we’re trying to talk to other space companies, right,” Cowen said. “And I think that, that’s where it’s exciting at GBIC right now, that space is at the forefront  and that’s going to be the future for Brownsville, is growing our space ecosystem and being able to really be known for that.”

Cowen believes that there will be many opportunities for UTRGV students to obtain internships with companies, such as 9Point8, and, later, a career in the space industry. 

When The Rider asked Cowen how 9Point8 decided to come here, he replied, “Typically, we do receive phone calls, emails. But, sometimes, we meet people at tradeshows and other networking events that help start that relationship. But, obviously, having SpaceX here and being what they’re doing and planning to do has put Brownsville on the map.”

The Rider asked Cowen how 9Point8 Capital will impact the Rio Grande Valley, Cowen replied that it will accelerate the city’s growth.

“It’s a very exciting time to be in Brownsville and to be at the forefront of growing this new industry here,” he said.

The company will help attract new businesses in the space industry to Brownsville, said District 1 Commissioner Nurith Galonsky Pizana during an interview with The Rider last Wednesday.

9Point8 will further impact the Brownsville commercial space ecosystem, according to a news release sent to The Rider by GBIC.

A commercial space ecosystem is different companies that have to do with space industries, Commissioner At-Large “B” Rose Gowen told The Rider last Wednesday.  

“So, it could be the plastic that they use for spaceships or it could be the different components that go into building things that have to do with the space industry,” Gowen said. “Or it could be the Space Channel, which is the TV station that we also recruited that will be reporting on things that happen with relationship to space travel. It could be space tourism. All the things that are related to having to do with space that develop into this ecosystem.”

Areseneau explained that a $10- to $20-million scholarship program is in development. 

“I would love for this to be a co-op, first year taught, second year co-op so that that skill set comes into the community because what I’d like to happen is half the students come from an engineering background and we teach them what a balance sheet, a cash flow statement is and more than that,” Arseneau said. “And then, the other half are business people and teach them about technology and how to bring that together in an MBA and we create a workforce.” 

The Rider asked Gowen what the main goal of 9Point8 coming to Brownsville  is, she replied, “The main goal is to provide venture capital for entrepreneurs in Brownsville to be able to start businesses that have to do with space, with the space industry. And to provide scholarships for our students to then go on to begin, be able to take jobs in the space industry.”

Arseneau described his experiences on his trips to Brownsville and the buzz he felt here.

“I don’t want to miss that opportunity to be here when Brownsville becomes the Silicon Valley of space, so we chose this as a very, very important part of our ecosystem,” Arseneau said.