ORLANDO, Fla. — Space company executives project a new wave of investment and consolidation in the industry that one called a “more thoughtful” version of the previous surge five years ago.
During a panel session at the Space Mobility conference here Jan. 28, representatives of several companies said they were seeing signs of both renewed investment in the industry as well as potential merger and acquisition (M&A) activity.
“I think we are entering a more thoughtful version of 2020 from an industry perspective,” said Andrew Rush, co-founder and chief executive of Star Catcher, a space-to-space power beaming company that raised more than $12 million last year. Rush is the former chief executive of Made In Space, a space 3D-printing company acquired by Redwire.
He was referring to a prior wave of investment in space companies five years ago that included both venture capital investment and companies going public through special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs. Investment dropped precipitously after 2021, though, because of higher interest rates as well as poor performance by many of the companies that went public through SPACs.
Rush pointed to several signs of an improving investment climate, such as launch vehicle developer Stoke Space’s $260 million Series C round announced Jan. 15, Redwire’s $925 million acquisition of drone manufacturer Edge Autonomy Jan. 20 and Voyager Technologies’ confidential filing of paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering (IPO).
“I think we will see folks leverage the public markets for growth capital,” he said, citing Voyager’s plans, “as well as mature businesses with more traditional fundamentals.”
“We are very confident that we are going to see an increase in IPO activity in 2025,” said Andrew Magliochetti, co-founder and managing partner of IronGate Capital Advisors, a firm that invests in companies making dual-use technologies. “We’re already seeing M&A activity increase within our portfolio.”
He said he expected more “consolidation and aggregation” in the sector. “If you want to build an enduring company, at some point you have to look at inorganic growth,” he argued. “I think we’re in a five-year period where there’s going to be quite a bit of M&A.”
“I think it’s going to be a very interesting couple of years ahead of us,” said Clare Martin, executive vice president of in-space services company Astroscale U.S., citing the “huge boom” of investment a few years ago. “I think we’re reaching the point now where you’re going to see some consolidation.”
That consolidation is already underway involving companies in the previous “gold rush” of investment in the field, said Chris Carella, founding partner of advisory firm Entra Mantra and a former executive with satellite propulsion company Benchmark Space Systems. “There’s an opportunity, I think, to capture the reenergized investment,” he said. “There’s going to be well-informed investment and well-informed customers with a lot more clarity than there used to be.”
He compared the previous wave of investment of buying “an arm’s length of 50/50 tickets,” a type of raffle. “But now, we should know enough about what I actually want to spend my money on.”