In the first quarter of 2024, funding for space start-ups has more than doubled. This increase in funding comes amidst strong investment by the government. This is as per a report by venture capital firm Space Capital.
Since geospatial data and images that are collected by satellites are used for everything by government agencies, from agriculture to weather analysis, there has been a surge in funding, reports Reuters. The data in the report has been gathered from various sources across many categories. Some of the sources include SEC filings, events, and crowd platforms such as Angelist and SeedInvest.
Chad Anderson, managing partner at Space Capital, talked about the importance of the space economy and gave an example of how GPS has enabled the modern global economy. As per Reuters, he said, “While we still have some consolidation to get through, the overall space economy is rebounding, and it is now replete with a number of rising stars.”
Funding for space economy companies rose to $6.5 billion from $2.9 billion a year earlier. This was a 33 per cent rise from the fourth quarter. "Over the last 10 years, there has been $286 billion invested into 1,779 unique space companies," says the report by Space Capital.
The top five countries that received investments are the USA, China, Singapore, India, and France. The report says that the USA has dominated global infrastructure investment over the past 10 years. It secured a total capital of 66 per cent, with SpaceX and Blue Origin accounting for 31 per cent of the total investment.
Space is an integral part of the global economy, as per the World Economic Forum. As per the forum, the space sector’s valuation will increase to $1.8 trillion by 2035. “Space technologies are delivering greater value to a more diverse set of stakeholders than ever before,” said Sebastian Buckup, Member of the Executive Committee, World Economic Forum. Buckup added, “As costs reduce and accessibility rises, these technologies could reshape whole industries and have as much impact on business and society as smartphones or cloud computing.”
