Exoniscient

Stealth venture studio in space, frontier markets, and social impact. We launch and assemble new companies and advise ones that already exist.

1998 • Volitional Science

Dick Rocket, Esq. learned about the commercialization of space through his mentor, Andrew J. Galambos.

2006 • UC Berkeley Law

Rocket studied international business law at UC Berkeley, where he was an external editor for the Berkeley Technology Law Journal.

2009 • Simpson Thacher & Bartlett

Practiced private equity fund formation for Blackstone's $1Tr vehicle at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, out of their New York and London offices.

2011 • SpaceX Investment

One of the world's first angel investors to attempt to buy 10,000 shares of SpaceX stock at a ~$500M valuation.

2011 • NewSpace Global

After nearly a decade of quietly tracking the commercial space industry while practicing law, Rocket co-founded NewSpace Global (acquired), the world's first intelligence platform covering the sector. The team eventually tracked over 2,000 companies across the world.

2011 • The NSG 100

NSG's flagship product was a proprietary index ranking the top 100 privately held space companies, which appeared on CNBC. The firm became a regular source for Fortune, Forbes, and Bloomberg, with clients ranging from NASA and SpaceX to McKinsey and FedEx.

2012–2017 • Speaking

Rocket presented at Stanford, Harvard Business School, Wharton, Cornell, Rice, Embry-Riddle, PayPal, the Brazilian Space Agency, and the International Astronautical Congress, among others.

2018 • Orrery.ai

Rocket raised 7 figures for Orrery.ai, a fintech startup that proposed to use machine learning and synthetic aperture radar to turn satellite imagery into actionable investment signals, with plans to eventually fly their own constellation of small radar satellites.

2026 • Exoniscient

Rocket brought together a small talented team with experience across space, finance, and emerging markets. Exoniscient is currently in stealth, actively working with founders and scoping new ventures across its three focus areas.

Previous Clients: SpaceX · NASA · NASA JPL · Lockheed Martin · Airbus · FedEx · McKinsey · In-Q-Tel · ESA · Stanford · Harvard Business School · Wharton

Press: Bloomberg · Fortune · Forbes · Financial Times · Wired · Fast Company · CNBC · Fox News