DGAP-News: Bulent Altan, renowned SpaceX veteran, joins Mynaric's management board

• Former SpaceX and Airbus VP Bulent Altan joins Mynaric management board to lead the space business and to be the public face of the company
• Former Bosch Sensortec VP Hubertus von Janecek joins the management board to lead sales and production of airborne products
• Wolfram Peschko remains on the management board to lead finance, administration and strategy
• The changes allow co-founders Markus Knapek and Joachim Horwath to use their considerable strengths to explore new product offerings and technical innovations

 
Munich, March 13, 2019 - Mynaric (Frankfurt Stock Exchange: M0Y, ISIN: DE000A0JCY11) can announce today that it has won former SpaceX vice president Bulent Altan to join its management board and to lead on space activities as well as to be the public face of the company. The changes in management are the latest steps the company is taking to consolidate, expedite and expand its laser communication product offering for the expanding market of aerospace connectivity.

After being hired by Elon Musk at SpaceX in 2004 Bulent served the company for over 12 years, building up the avionics department as its vice president before becoming the vice president for satellite mission assurance and, as such, responsible for the satellite constellation in his most recent position with the space company. He also served in various roles at Airbus Defence and Space and other technology companies, as well as establishing a venture capital firm focused exclusively on commercial space companies, prior to joining Mynaric. Bulent will start immediately and is tasked with implementing his knowledge and expertise of integrating Mynaric's space products into customer systems.
 
"I am delighted to be joining Mynaric at this key moment in the company's development. Drawing on my experience gained at SpaceX in taking commercial-off-the-shelf products for building reliable and cost-effective space products, we can now move Mynaric forward into the next phase of its march towards becoming the global market leader for laser communication in this sector. We are in the middle of creating the most commercially viable product range on the global laser communication market."
Bulent Altan, Member of the Management Board, Mynaric
 
At the same time former, Bosch Sensortec vice president Hubertus von Janecek is appointed to the management board to lead sales and production of airborne products. In previous positions he has served as Bosch Sensortec vice president of sales, and as CEO, founder and sales director of various other market-leading companies. He has more than 20 years of experience in global sales of deep tech products; the last nine years of which were spent in China - one of the most rapidly growing aerospace markets. Hubertus von Janecek has already served as a managing director with Mynaric since June 2018, and now, in his new role, will become responsible for all commercially available products for the airborne market.
 
"Mynaric's management team has very successfully pushed the technological and economical limits of laser communication in recent years, paving the way for the product maturity we are seeing today. I am thrilled that we are already producing and shipping optical ground stations and will also soon start doing so for lasercom terminals for aircraft and UAVs on short notice - something no other company has achieved so far. I am privileged to be the one who will lead Mynaric's sales efforts of this new and expanded level of capability and competence."
Hubertus von Janecek, Member of the Management Board, Mynaric

Joachim Horwath, one of the co-founders of the company, has vacated his position on the management board to establish and run a team to evaluate and integrate advanced technologies in order to expand and protect Mynaric's premier position in the market. He remains a managing director - and the technological lead - of the company's laser communication division.

Co-founder Dr. Markus Knapek also vacates his seat on the management board to establish a new division of the company. He will continue to do business development for Mynaric's space solutions and expand the company's product offering in the aerospace connectivity value chain.

"We have come a long way since Joachim and myself first started work on laser communication at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) back in the early-2000s. Today, we are finally seeing the market start to become the reality we always envisioned when founding the company in 2009. I am very happy we have found in Bulent and Hubertus such experienced leaders and great personalities to lead Mynaric through this new phase of the market while Joachim and I use our considerable knowledge and combined 30-years plus experience in laser communication to make sure we seize the opportunities adjacent to our core business as the market expands."
Dr Markus Knapek, Co-founder of Mynaric

Dr. Wolfram Peschko, who has been leading Mynaric since 2011, under whose control the company has grown from zero to around 80 employees today - and who was responsible for raising close to EUR 40m of growth capital for the group - will remain on the management board to lead finance, administration and the Group's strategic development.

"In welcoming Bulent and Hubertus to new management positions, we have the final pieces of the jigsaw in place: in Bulent, a well-experienced leader with a proven track record in space applications working for pioneering, market-changing companies; in Hubertus, a commercial leader who has overseen sales and technical serial production for equally well-respected multinational companies; and, in Markus and Joachim, two laser communication pioneers who now have the latitude to play to their considerable strengths and explore new product offerings and technical innovations."
Dr Wolfram Peschko, Member of the Management Board, Mynaric
About Mynaric
Mynaric is a manufacturer of laser communication technologies used to enable communication and surveillance applications in air and space. Its wireless laser data transmission products include ground stations and flight terminals, which allow very large quantities of data to be sent wirelessly and securely over long distances between aircraft, autonomous drones, high-altitude platforms, satellites and the ground.

Globally, the need for fast and secure connectivity is advancing inexorably. Data networks are today largely based on infrastructure on the ground, which cannot be expanded arbitrarily for legal, economic or practical reasons. The future therefore calls for an expansion of the existing network infrastructure into air and space. With its wireless laser communication products Mynaric is positioned as a prime pioneer in this growth market.

For more information see: www.mynaric.com
Notes to Editors

1. Mynaric will hold two press conferences
   1. in German (10:30am CET) on March 13, 2019. Dial-in: +49-(0)69 271340800, Participant code: 41461978#
   2. in English (2:30pm CET, 9:30am EST) on March 13, 2019. Dial-in: +49-(0)69 271340801, Participant code: 59434279#
2. There is a media pack for the release. The pack includes
   1. Photo of the company and the management

The media pack is available here: https://mynaric.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/management-change-media-pack.zip
Contact
e comms@mynaric.com
t + 49 8105 7999-117 (English press)
t + 49 8105 7999-114 (German press)
Important information
Some of the information in this announcement may contain projections or other forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial performance of the Company. You can identify forward looking statements by terms such as "expect," "believe," "anticipate," "estimate," "intend," "will," "could," "may" or "might," or, in each case, the negative of such terms or other similar expressions. We wish to caution you that these statements are only predictions and that actual events or results may differ materially. We do not intend to update these statements to reflect events and circumstances occurring after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Many factors could cause the actual results to differ materially from those contained in our projections or forward-looking statements, including, among others, general economic conditions, our competitive environment, risks associated with our industry, as well as many other risks specifically related to the Company and its operations.