Q1 2020 Edition Of Venture Investments in Space Market | Noosphere Ventures

Q1 2020 Edition Of Venture Investments in Space Market

Q1 2020 Edition Of Venture Investments in Space Market

May 08, 2020

Welcome to the Q1 2020 edition of Venture Investments in Space Market.

Let’s take a look at a detailed report on venture investment in the space market, prepared by Noosphere Venture Partners LP. 

Download Venture investments in the space market. Q1 2020 Full Report

According to public figures collected by Noosphere Venture Partners, 42 rounds were closed in Q1 2020, with a total investment of $1.2B. Nearly 93 funds participated in the funding. Most of the closed deals were early-stage VC and later-stage VC as well.

Half of the companies (52%) which received investment are in the US. Compared to Q4 2019 numbers, the European market share decreased by 4%.

Among the top 3 biggest deals of Q1 2020 are:

  • $314M investment in SpaceX, which aims to fund two capital intensive projects: Starlink, a network of thousands of small internet satellites, and Starship, a massive rocket to send people and cargo to Mars;
  • $221M investment in SpaceX – the steady fundraising comes as SpaceX continues development on three important programs: Crew Dragon, Starlink and Starship;
  • $111M investment in Kinéis – the capital raised will finance the construction of the constellation of 25 nanosatellites, 20 ground stations, the launch of the satellites and the international expansion of Kinéis.

The second group of largest funding deals sees AST & Science ($110M), Astra ($100M), Astranis ($90M, including $50M of debt financing) and ABL Space Systems ($47.5M).

Notable space industry setbacks in Q1 2020 involved Sky and Space Global (SAS), which transferred control of the company on April 7 to an accounting firm in an effort to preserve some or all of its business. OneWeb in March filed for bankruptcy and Audacy agreed to be bought out by EOSDefense Systems for $7M.

Bigelow Aerospace, meanwhile, said it laid off its staff to comply with a stay-at-home order in Nevada, but the company’s future had been in question before the pandemic given a lack of customers for its commercial space stations. Similar staffing problems were reported at Astra and World View.

Despite these setbacks caused by the coronavirus pandemic and related economic downturn, successful space launches by orbit continued, with launches of small-lift vehicles peaking in Q3 2019 and medium-lift vehicle launches remaining steady. Launches of heavy-lift vehicles, however, decreased Q4 2019 to present.

Q1 report highlights Noosphere Ventures (investments in Firefly Aerospace), Space Angels Network (investments in SpaceX and Planet) and Seraphim Capital (investments in Spire and Iceye) as top funds with successful space-tech oriented portfolios.

About Noosphere Venture Partners

Noosphere Venture Partners LP is a space-focused international asset management firm headquartered in Menlo Park, California, USA. It invests in projects from all over the world mainly focused on space and development of a New Space concept. 

Noosphere Venture Partners LP’s mission is to develop, grow, and accelerate industry-leading companies on a global scale.

Managing partner of Noosphere Venture Partners Max Polyakov is the founder and advisor of a number of startups that have grown into international businesses. These include companies such as HitDynamics Ltd, AlarIT Ukraine, Cupid Plc, and Maxymiser Ltd.

Noosphere Venture Partners (NVP) manages a global portfolio of companies with offices all over the world and 2,000+ specialists. NVP has invested in different projects and companies, including the small-satellite launch vehicle startup Firefly Aerospace. The company is also investing in the Earth Observation Data Analytics platform (EOS DA), Space Electric Thruster Systems (SETS) and D-Orbit.

If you have a relevant business that is looking for venture capital funding, submit your business plan for review [email protected]

Our professional team has excellent investment and technical background, and our expertise helps to assess the prospects of projects and pursue it for many years to come. For questions & feedback about the report — [email protected].

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