SERAPHIM SPACE has poached a Virgin veteran who helped finance the group's space ventures, Virgin Galactic and Virgin Orbit.

Patrick McCall, former senior partner at Virgin Group, is set to join the London-listed space tech fund as a venture partner, as the fund's value swells north of £185m not even a year after its float.

McCall previously led both Virgin Galactic and its spin-off satellite firm

Virgin Orbit into public markets, both via special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) in 2021.

The fund appointed a former UBS director as its chief operating officer in March, in another signal of strength from the firm.

It comes amid a quiet few months from the Virgin Group's space ventures following Galactic's gilded launch last year, as SpaceX steams ahead with new NASA and Axiom Space partnerships, and smaller firms have investors starry-eyed.

Launching activity is expected to pick up at the group, with Galactic looking to start its commercial service later this year.

However, Galactic is anticipated to have shouldered the costs of growing its fleet in preparation in its first quarter results published this week, according to analysts at Zacks Equity Research yesterday. Earnings could be bruised by the expenditure, alongside higher employee costs and the opening of ticket sales which are thought to have "hurt" its bottom line.

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