3. Seed Series A Series B Series C Late Stage4
Other5
Rise of the Space Startups
$30 B
400
$50 B
$40 B 600
700
$20 B
$10 B
200
300
500
Over the last 10 years, there has been $231.2B of equity investment
across 1,654 unique companies in the space economy, led by investment
in the U.S. and China, which collectively account for 77% of the global
total. Investors deployed another $8.7B into space companies in Q3 with
investments in Small Launch and Comms dominating Infrastructure
investments and Mobility and Location-based Services dominating
Application investments. An additional six SPACs closed in Q3 opening up
new growth curves through technical advancements or acquisition and
providing exits to early investors. With $3.9B invested in Infrastructure
during the quarter, $10.3B has been invested in the stack YTD, already
surpassing the previous annual record year of $9.8B, set just last year.
CUMULATIVE EQUITY INVESTMENT FROM 2012 TO PRESENT
39%
20%
13%
9%
11%
8%
Seed
Series A
Series B
Other4
Late Stage3
Series C
$4 B
$6 B
$8 B
$10 B
$8 B
$10 B
$2 B
$6 B
$4 B
$2 B
$0
$0
The trend towards larger, late-stage deals continued with $7.1B invested
in Late Stage/Other rounds in Q3. Overall, investment in the top 10
rounds accounted for $12.4B, or 48% of total space investment YTD.
217 early stage rounds account for 59% of all rounds closed, representing
$1.5B of investment and creating a strong pipeline for future growth. Deal
activity in Seed and Series A is likely bolstered by “the great resignation”
and multiple successful late stage companies spinning out new founders.
After a large Q2, Q3 slowed slightly resulting in the eleventh largest
quarter on record ($8.7B). Q3 investment in Infrastructure was $3.9B,
driven by investments in Small Launch and Comms, breaking the
record $9.8B in annual Infrastructure investments set in 2020. While the
investment in Distribution this quarter was marginal ($0.1B), investors
exited $714M. Applications had a healthy quarter driven by investments
in Mobility and Location-based Services ($4.7B).
BY STAGE • INVESTMENT AMOUNT BY STAGE • ROUND SHARE
$24.8B $1.5B 217
368
$231.2B
1,654
$171.7B
$15.8B
$43.6B
Year to Date
BY TECH STACK • INVESTMENT AMOUNT AND DEALS BY QUARTER
100
150
50
0
2021 Q2 2021 Q3
2020 Q3 2020 Q4 2021 Q1
Infrastructure
Distribution
Application
Deal Count
EQUITY INVESTMENTS
5
4
1. “Other” consists of countries each representing less than 1% of funding.
EARLY-STAGE INVESTMENT2
EARLY-STAGE ROUNDS
NUMBER OF ROUNDS
NUMBER OF ROUNDS IN Q3
Infrastructure
Number of Rounds
Distribution
Application
Application
Distribution
Infrastructure
2
0
2
1
2
0
1
2
2
0
1
3
2
0
1
4
2
0
1
5
2
0
1
6
2
0
1
7
2
0
1
8
2
0
1
9
2
0
2
0
P
R
I
O
R
74%
7%
19%
Equity Investment in
Space Companies
Number of Companies
Receiving Investment
116
TOTAL INVESTMENT BY GEOGRAPHY
TOTAL INVESTMENT BY STACK ANNUAL INVESTMENT BY STACK
30%
47%
5%
4%
3%
3%
1%1%
6%
UK
Canada
Other1
China
India
France
USA
Singapore
2. Early-stage consists of Pre-Seed, Seed, and Series A rounds.
3. Late-stage consists of Series D+ and Liquidity Rounds.
4. “Other” includes PIPE transactions as well as non-traditional investments and self-capitalization from Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Richard Branson, and Robert Bigelow who are classified as
Individual investors providing large investments (hundreds of millions) in their own companies through unclassified rounds.
SpaceX
launches
crew
mission,
ushers in
commercial
spaceflight
1978
NAVSTAR I GPS
launched
1984
First Commercial
GPS Receivers
2001
gpsOne supports
launch of GPS on
mobile devices
2005
Google Maps
launched
2009
SpaceX first successful
commercial launch
2008
iPhone 3G equipped
with GPS
Uber reaches 1M
daily users and
expands to over
250 cities
SpaceX
lands orbital
booster,
ushers in
reusability Planet Labs
images
entire
Earth daily
Indonesia
4. M
e
d
i
a
&
E
d
u
c
a
t
i
o
n
Another $0.7B was invested in Launch in Q3, bringing the cumulative
investment in the industry over the past decade to $22.8B with 69%
invested in Heavy Launch, reflecting the capital intensity of the sector.
Another $2.8B was invested in Satellites in Q3, bringing the ten year
total to $18.8B with 57% invested in Communications as the backbone
of the internet converges with satellite technology. We are beginning to
see private investment in PNT satellites including Hawkeye 360, a Space
Capital portfolio company that provides radio frequency mapping as an
alternative to GPS.
Infrastructure
ANNUAL INVESTMENT SOURCE
BY SECTOR7
• CUMULATIVE INVESTMENT AMOUNT
CUMULATIVE INVESTMENT GEOGRAPHY
BY SECTOR • CUMULATIVE ROUND SHARE
$2 B
Angel/Individual
Venture Capital
Corporate
Other5
67%
16%
7%
5%
1%
1%
3%
United States
United Kingdom
China
France
Japan
Canada
Other6
$0
$4 B
$6 B
$8 B
$10 B
Another $3.9B was invested in the Infrastructure stack in Q3 driven by mega-
rounds in ORBCOMM ($1.1B), OneWeb ($550M), and Rocket Lab ($467M).
This quarter sets a new record for yearly Infrastructure investment, having
surpassed the previous high of $9.8B set in 2020. Corporate capital has
been a key contributing factor with $2.8B invested in 2021, breaking the
previous high of $2.3B set in 2016. The average round size and the number
of rounds are also on track to set new records at the end of Q4.
TheUnitedStatesleadsglobalinvestmentinspaceInfrastructureaccounting
for 67% of the total capital since 2012. The U.K. has grown to 16% of total
Infrastructure investment, driven almost exclusively by investments in
OneWeb. The U.K. government recently presented their National Space
Strategy, seeing space as a key driver of growth for the nation going
forward. China has grown to 7% of Infrastructure investments, primarily
flowing to small launch and manufacturing/component companies.
While Launch has received the largest cumulative investment since
2012, Satellites have generated the most deal activity with 51% of total
round share. Within Satellites, Manufacturing & Components and Earth
Observation account for a combined 76% of total round activity over
the past decade. Emerging Industries including in-space Industrials,
Logistics, and Biospheres represent a combined 10% of rounds and 2% of
investment dollars since 2012. We believe that super heavy lift capabilities
will begin to unlock these markets as terrestrial companies see space as a
cost effective growth market.
In Q3, investments in Launch and Satellites continued to be concentrated
in Late Stage rounds, reflecting the capital intensity of those industries.
Since 2012, 72% of this investment has gone to Late Stage and Other
rounds. Early stage companies over that same period received 11% of
capital.
The top 10 deals accounted for $3.3B, or 84%, of total Infrastructure
investment for the quarter with $2.7B invested in nine U.S. companies and
$0.6B invested in UK-based OneWeb. Five of these rounds are attributed
to PIPE investments associated with SPACs: Spire, Momentous, Rocketab,
Redwire, and BlackSky. The three pending Infrastructure SPACs are
expected to add an additional $1.4B to the target companies’ balance
sheets by the end of 2021, including $0.4B of equity investment through
PIPEs.
Investors liquidated $3.6B through 14 Infrastructure exits in Q3 which
included the closing of six SPACs merging with Infrastructure companies.
The largest exit this quarter was Yahsat’s $0.7B IPO. Two notable acquisition
exits were Seakr Engineering’s acquisition by Raytheon, and SpaceX’s
acquisition of Swarm Technologies. Nearly all of the Infrastructure exits
over the past decade have come in the form of acquisitions, but SPACs
have increasingly become an alternate path to exit YTD. Three more
Infrastructure SPACs are expected to close in Q4 of 2021, which could add
another $1B to the exit tally for the year.
While only a fraction of total capital invested, early-stage rounds have
accounted for 74% of total equity rounds. Early stage pipeline has begun
to shift from Small Launch to Earth Observation and Communications
Satellites, particularly focused on SAR, RF, hyperspectral, and IoT
capabilities.
$5.0 B
$15 B
$20 B
$10 B
$0.0 B
Seed Series A Series B Series C Other5
Late Stage4
BY STAGE • CUMULATIVE INVESTMENT AMOUNT
TOP DEALS IN THE QUARTER EXITS BY SECTOR
BY STAGE • CUMULATIVE ROUND SHARE
COMPANY ROUND AMOUNT
ORBCOMM Public to Private $1,100 M
OneWeb Corporate $550 M
Rocket Lab PIPE $467 M
Spire PIPE $245 M
ICON Technology Series B $207 M
Hawkeye360 Series D $200 M
BlackSky Global PIPE $180 M
Isar Aerospace Series B $166 M
Momentus Space PIPE $110 M
Redwire PIPE $100 M
$10 B
$25 B
$20 B
$15 B
$5 B
$0
L
a
u
n
c
h
S
a
t
e
l
l
i
t
e
s
B
i
o
s
p
h
e
r
e
s
I
n
t
e
r
p
l
a
n
e
t
a
r
y
I
n
d
u
s
t
r
i
a
l
s
I
n
f
o
&
R
e
s
e
a
r
c
h
Seed
Series A
Series B
Series C
Late Stage3
Other4
58%
16%
9%
4%
3% 10%
2
0
1
2
2
0
1
3
2
0
1
4
2
0
1
5
2
0
1
6
2
0
1
7
2
0
1
8
2
0
1
9
2
0
2
0
2
0
2
1
7
6
Satellites
586 rounds
Launch
306 rounds
M
a
n
u
f
a
c
t
u
r
i
n
g
&
C
o
m
p
o
n
e
n
t
s
2
5
6
r
o
u
n
d
s
C
o
m
m
u
n
i
c
a
t
i
o
n
s
1
1
8
r
o
u
n
d
s
Earth Observation
161 rounds
S
m
a
l
l
L
a
u
n
c
h
2
4
1
r
o
u
n
d
s
Heavy Launch
35 rounds
Medium Launch
21 rounds
Launch Brokerage
6 rounds
Spaceport Operations
3 rounds
Positioning,
Navigation,
Timing
17
rounds
I
n
d
u
s
t
r
i
a
l
s
4
2
r
o
u
n
d
s
I
n
f
o
r
m
a
t
i
o
n
&
R
e
s
e
a
r
c
h
4
7
r
o
u
n
d
s
Logistics 49 rounds
Media & Education 53 rounds
In
t
e
r
p
la
n
e
t
a
r
y
3
6
ro
u
n
d
s
Biosph
eres
26
rounds
5. “Other” includes Foundations, Private Equity, Sovereign Wealth Funds, Mutual Funds, Crowd Platforms.
6. “Other” consists of countries which each represent less than 1% of funding.
7. See industry segmentation chart.
$43.6B
TOTAL EQUITY INVESTMENT SINCE 2012
L
o
g
i
s
t
i
c
s
150
200
100
50
0
Industrials
Info & Research
Launch
Logistics
Media & Education
Satellites
Number of Rounds
Number of Rounds
$0
$6 B
$4 B
$2 B
$40 B
20
25
15
10
5
2
0
1
2
2
0
1
3
2
0
1
4
2
0
1
5
2
0
1
6
2
0
1
7
2
0
1
8
2
0
1
9
2
0
2
0
2
0
2
1
Hardware and software to build, launch, and operate space-based assets
5. ANNUAL INVESTMENT SOURCE
BY SECTOR • CUMULATIVE INVESTMENT AMOUNT
CUMULATIVE INVESTMENT GEOGRAPHY
BY SECTOR • CUMULATIVE ROUND SHARE
Angel/Individual
Venture Capital
Corporate
Other6
Positioning,
Navigation, Timing
Earth Observation
Communications
70%
21%
5%
2%
1%
1%
China
USA
UK
South Korea
Israel
Canada
Other8
$0
$6 B
$4 B
$2 B
Another $0.1B was deployed across nine rounds in Q3 driven by venture
capital investors. There has now been $15.8B invested in Distribution
companies across 149 rounds over the last 10 years. Investment at
this layer of the stack includes hardware and software to connect and
process data for hundreds of terrestrial use cases.
U.S. and Chinese companies have attracted the majority of capital
within Distribution since 2012, accounting for 21% and 70% respectively.
The majority of investment in this stack has gone to U.S. companies
specializing in Communications. . This includes KORE Wireless, a provider
of CaaS (Connectivity-as-a-Service) and emerging players like Skylo
Technologies, a company using GEO satellites to provide ubiquitous IoT.
Investment in Chinese Distribution companies has largely specialized in
PNT. This includes AutoNavi, a provider of ubiquitous digital map content
and navigation and location-based software for in-car navigation systems
and Qianxun SI, a leading high-precision positioning service provider.
Since 2012, 79% of investment in Distribution has gone to companies
that specialize in PNT, followed by Communications with 19%. As Starlink
prepares to launch commercial services in Q4 using a full stack solution,
OneWeb and SES are forming strategic partnerships with Intellian and
Isotropic to unlock distribution and drive down terminal costs.
Similar to investment dollars, Comms and PNT account for 87% of
all investment rounds in Distribution since 2012. Earth Observation
represents a larger percentage of rounds than capital (13% vs. 1%),
indicating a nascent sector with more early-stage activity. This activity
includes SkyWatch, a company that provides a digital infrastructure for
the distribution of Earth Observation data and Rendered.ai, a company
that provides data engineering tools for proveable AI.
Since 2012, 56% of capital in Distribution has been invested in Late
Stage and Other rounds. Early stage companies over that same period
received just 7% of capital. Investments at this layer of the stack are
becoming more software and big data oriented.
The top three deals in Q3 accounted for 77% of the total investment in the
quarter. Isotropic Systems, a Space Capital portfolio company developing
the world’s first multi-orbit, high-bandwidth, low power SatCom terminal,
raised a $35M Series C while Blues Wireless, provider of a secure data
pipe for IoT data and devices , raised a $22M Series A. The two pending
Distribution SPACs, KORE wireless and NextNav, are expected to add an
additional $892M to the target companies’ balance sheets by the end of
2021, including $430M of equity investment through PIPEs.
Early-stage rounds account for 68% of the total s in Distribution
since 2012. This may suggest a more nascent ecosystem and higher
experimentation as Communications and Earth Observation slowly
unbundle, similar to PNT.
$6 B
$4 B
$2 B
$0
Seed Series A Series B Series C Other5
Late Stage4
BY STAGE • CUMULATIVE INVESTMENT AMOUNT
TOP DEALS IN THE QUARTER EXITS BY SECTOR
BY STAGE • CUMULATIVE ROUND SHARE
COMPANY ROUND AMOUNT
Isotropic Systems Series C $35 M
Blues Wireless Series A $22 M
HySpecIQ Crowd $20 M
Geosite Series A $5 M
Oriient Series A $5 M
R3 IoT Seed $4 M
Rendered AI Seed $4 M
Syook Series A $1 M
Smartvel Pre seed $1 M
$5 B
$10 B
$15 B
$0
Positioning,
Navigation, Timing
Earth
Observation
Communications
47%
40%
13%
Seed
Series A
Series B
Series C
Late Stage3
Other4
46%
22%
12%
4%
7%
10%
9
8
8. “Other” consists of countries which each represent less than 1% of funding.
$15.8B
TOTAL EQUITY INVESTMENT SINCE 2012
Number of Rounds
40
20
$0
$3 B
$2 B
$1 B
$4 B
$5 B
10
5
0
Communications
Earth Observation
Positioning, Navigation, Timing
Number of Rounds
2
0
1
2
2
0
1
3
2
0
1
4
2
0
1
5
2
0
1
6
2
0
1
7
2
0
1
8
2
0
1
9
2
0
2
0
2
0
2
1
2
0
1
2
2
0
1
3
2
0
1
4
2
0
1
5
2
0
1
6
2
0
1
7
2
0
1
8
2
0
1
9
2
0
2
0
2
0
2
1
Investors liquidated $714M in one Distribution exit in Q3: long-time
satellite communication company Marlink was acquired by a private
equity firm. Since 2012, 59% of Distribution exits have come in the form
of acquisitions with nearly all exits (98%) occurring in the Comms and
PNT sectors. PNT was particularly attractive to acquirers in 2014 and
2015 for its exposure to Location Based Services. Over the past couple
of years, Comms acquisitions have become more common as investors
seek exposure to IoT.
Distribution
Hardware and software to connect, process, and manage data from space-based assets
6. $50 B
$100 B
$150 B
$0
Positioning,
Navigation, Timing
Earth
Observation
Communications
ANNUAL INVESTMENT SOURCE
BY SECTOR • CUMULATIVE INVESTMENT AMOUNT
CUMULATIVE INVESTMENT GEOGRAPHY
BY SECTOR • CUMULATIVE ROUND SHARE
United States
China
Singapore
Indonesia
India
UK
Canada
Colombia
Other9
Another $4.7B was invested across 59 Application rounds during Q3,
which was dominated by mega-rounds in PNT. There has now been
$171.7B invested into 1,023 Application companies over the past 10
years, bringing Location-Based Services to the masses through ride-
hailing, on-demand delivery, and micro-mobility. The majority of
investment in the quarter (55%) came from Venture Capital.
U.S. companies continue to attract the largest share of Applications
investment, accounting for 44% of the total since 2012. China closely
follows the U.S. with 32% of total Application investment, as a result of
the country’s e-commerce and location-based services boom.
Capital continues to be heavily concentrated in the PNT sector, accounting
for 93% of total Q3 investment at this layer of the stack and driven
primarily by investment in Location-Based Services, accounting for 83%
of the total Q3 investment. Applications attracted significant investment
globally during the past year in response to COVID-19, particularly in the
on-demand delivery and ride-hailing segments, a trend that continued
in Q3 as consumers demand faster deliveries and more precise location
updates.
PNT also accounts for the vast majority (77%) of all Application rounds
since 2012. Earth Observation (EO) represents a much larger percentage
of rounds than capital (21% vs. 3%), indicating early-stage activity and the
potential for significant innovation. Several examples include Regrow,
a Space Capital portfolio company building the analytics engine for the
agriculture value chain and Pachama, a company providing remote
verification and monitoring for carbon credits.
Investment in Applications continues to be concentrated in Late Stage
deals (61%), as companies stay private longer and require larger
amounts of capital to continue scaling operations.
The top 10 deals in Q3 accounted for $4.2B (88%) of Applications
investment for the quarter with the largest round, a $1B round into
GoPuff, a consumer goods and food delivery service operating out of
Philadelphia, and the second largest round going to Bolt, a rideshare
and food delivery service based in Estonia who raised a $0.7B Series H.
The three pending Applications SPACs are expected to add an additional
$5.4B to the target companies’ balance sheets by the end of 2021,
including $4.3B of equity investment through PIPEs.
Investors liquidated $1B in seven Applications exits in Q3. The largest
three exits are all acquisitions of U.S. companies, which include Azuga, a
company that develops connected vehicle software and tools, Bear Flag
Robotics, a company that developed self-driving tractor technology, and
Convey, a company that developed supply chain management software
designed for retailers. There are a significant number of late-stage
Applications companies that have raised mega-rounds recently and we
anticipate large exits in the near future.
Early-stage rounds in Applications have represented 67% of the total
since 2012, suggesting relatively greater success attracting follow-on
funding than Infrastructure and Distribution.
$40 B
$80 B
$100 B
$60 B
$20 B
$0
Seed Series A Series B Series C Other5
Late Stage4
BY STAGE • CUMULATIVE INVESTMENT AMOUNT
TOP DEALS IN THE QUARTER EXITS BY SECTOR
BY STAGE • CUMULATIVE ROUND SHARE
COMPANY ROUND AMOUNT
GoPuff Series H $1,000 M
Bolt Series H $710 M
Caocao Mobility Series G $586 M
Rappi Series F $500 M
Ola Series I $500 M
Shield AI Series D $210 M
Voi Series D $205 M
Ola Electric Mobility Series D $200 M
Daangn Market Series D $157 M
Airlift Technologies Series B $85 M
77%
21%
2%
Seed
Series A
Series B
Series C
Late Stage3
Other4
47%
20%
6%
11%
8%
9%
11
10
9. “Other” consists of countries which each represent less than 1% of funding.
$171.7B
TOTAL EQUITY INVESTMENT SINCE 2012
44%
32%
5%
4%
3%
2%
1%1%
8%
Positioning,
Navigation, Timing
Earth Observation
Communications
Angel/Individual
Venture Capital
Corporate
Other6
$0
$20 B
$30 B
$10 B
$40 B 400
200
300
100
Number of Rounds
Communications
Earth Observation
Positioning, Navigation, Timing
Number of Rounds
$0
$20 B
$60 B
$40 B
$80 B
2
0
1
2
2
0
1
3
2
0
1
4
2
0
1
5
2
0
1
6
2
0
1
7
2
0
1
8
2
0
1
9
2
0
2
0
2
0
2
1
20
30
10
2
0
1
2
2
0
1
3
2
0
1
4
2
0
1
5
2
0
1
6
2
0
1
7
2
0
1
8
2
0
1
9
2
0
2
0
2
0
2
1
Applications
Specialized software that utilizes data from space-based assets
