This document discusses the opportunities in investing in space technology startups. It notes that costs to access space are decreasing 100x, enabling new applications and a growing ecosystem of "New Space" companies. The document introduces Seraphim Capital's £83M space technology fund, which will focus on fusion of terrestrial tech like AI and robotics with space. It outlines the diverse deal flow the fund is seeing in areas like earth observation, cubesats, launch vehicles, and more. Finally, it discusses the growth of the European VC market and London's position as a leading tech hub, especially for space through clusters like Harwell.

1. Science : Disrupt – Future Space, 24/10/16

2. We do things not because they are easy, but
because they are hard…
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ABOUT SERAPHIM
• 2006 £30m ‘Super Angel’ Fund
• 2016 £83m Space Tech Fund (tbc)
• Series A investor
• IP-led businesses
• Platform technologies
• B2B > B2C
• Commercial validation
• Product / market fit (momentum)
• Focus on well defined, directly addressable markets
• Patient capital: long exit horizons

3. [About Me]
• Dyslexic historian (UCL ‘02)
• Involved in London’s innovation / start-up & investment community since 2000
• 2x failed entrepreneur (‘00-’03, ‘12-’13) – learnt a lot of lessons the hard way…
• Started, advised, invested in 40+ companies in UK, Europe, US & India
• VC since ‘06 – a lot has changed since then….
• Anti social media, pro Singularity
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4. Linear views disguise continual (and exponential)
advancement, making future hard to predict
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Law of accelerating returns – continual biological
& technical evolution at an ever faster pace

5. Singularity 101: Learn to G.R.I.N. and bear it (it
could be less than 30 years away….)
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…and this relates to Space how? (We’ll get on to
this shortly….)

6. The entrepreneurial challenge: how special are
you?
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7. Understanding a VC’s mindset: success is rare and
tends to be binary…
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• Long term VC returns:
• 1 in 2 investments fail
• 1 in 10 are a major success
• ‘Power Law’ - c.10% of investments delivering c.60% of value
• Therefore essential to focus on investing in top 1% of opportunities
• 1 in 10 major success = <1 in 1,000 investment opportunities
Investments
ReturnMultiple(x)

8. Standing out from the crowd can be tough….
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9. …especially when VCs have such short attention
spans…
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…ok, but seriously, what does all this have to do
with Space?

10. Why a Space Fund? Well, Star Wars is back, and
Space is cool again…
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11. Space is already part of everyday life – we interact
with satellites 36 times each day
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Our reliance / use of satellites is set to grow exponentially

12. A 100x decrease in the economics of space is a
once-in-a-generation game changer…
• Economics of space now pro VC
• Catalysing new applications
• 90s = low cost personal computing
• 00s = low cost cloud computing
• ‘10s = low cost access to space
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13. …and a diverse ecosystem* of ‘New Space’
companies is already developing…
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* And this is ‘just’ the upstream
ecosystem – downstream ecosystem
of space-related companies = many
times larger

14. Tech billionaires & their companies are leading
the charge in a new ‘space race’….
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15. …with VCs (in the US at least) following their
lead, investing in emerging category leaders
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Space tech market attracted 2x as much money in 2015 as
in past 3 years combined
• Founders Fund
• Khosla Ventures
• Bessemer Venture Partners
• Sequoia
• Y Combinator
• DFJ

16. World’s first venture fund to focus on space at a
time of radical changes within the sector
• £83m fund - £50m first close end of Oct’16 (fingers crossed…)
• Focus on fusion of terrestrial tech with space applications
• New Space, A.I., robotics, nanotechnology (and more)
• Backed by leading space companies & ESA
• Target IP-led businesses & spin-outs from space corporates
• CTO of Google Earth & Google Maps joining Seraphim team
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17. • Space enabling tech opportunities
• AI, robotics, drones, nanomaterials,
• Software opportunities
• Navigation, satellite imagery, comms
• Hardware opportunities
• Nanosats, space energy, launch vehicles
Investing in tech already addressing, originally
derived from or of potential benefit to space
Fund will focus on investment opportunities that are IP-led, software-centric,
or the ‘spades and shovels’ businesses
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Deal flow is already covering a broad array of
areas, with earth observation the #1 area
Earth Observation
• Video
• Data analytics
• Agritech
• Insurance
• Resources
Cubesats
• Earth Observation
• Satcoms / IoT
• Plane tracking
Launch Vehicles
• Micro sats
• Space tourism
Robotics / Automation
• Drones / UAVs
• 3D printing
Exploration
• Microgravity research
• Asteroid Mining
Consumer
• 3D mapping
• Geodata / LBS
Hardware
• Propulsion
• Deployable structures
• Life extension
New Materials
• Composites
• Coatings
• Energy storage
• Energy harvesting
Satcoms
• Marine
• IoT
• Mobile
Size = indicative
volume of deal flow
Key

19. The European venture market is developing
rapidly, with London / UK the dominant force
Europe’s start-up ecosystem has come along way…
• 47 EU unicorns ($1bn+ valuations)
• EU unicorns far more capital-efficient than US
• US unicorns raise 2x capital, 5x more venture funding
• EU produces 2x STEM grads than US
UK dominates EU VC Market…
• #1 venture market >35% total market
• #1 unicorns (18/47 in EU)
• c.3x growth in VC funding since ‘11
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London is a thriving tech hub…
• 4 of the world’s top universities
• 60+ Incubators, accelerators and tech hubs
• London >2k business angels (>5x #2 EU hub)
• London 72k s/w developers c/w 83k San Fran
• San Fran = 1.5x higher salaries c/w London
Harwell is Europe’s leading space cluster
• 4,500 researchers, engineers, innovators
• 150+ high tech space companies
• 1 / 14 ESA incubators

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Artificial Intelligence Robotics Nanomaterials New Space Earth Observation
james@seraphimcapital.co.uk
www.seraphimcapital.co.uk
Thank You!