®

SPACE
INVESTMENT
QUARTERLY
Q4 2019
The most comprehensive market intelligence
– from the investors at the forefront

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WELCOME TO THE Q4 2019 EDITION OF

THE SPACE INVESTMENT QUARTERLY.
With $767M invested into Space companies in the fourth quarter, total funding for the year has reached
$5.8B, making 2019 the largest year on record for Space investment. Cumulatively, $25.7B has now
been invested into 535 unique space companies since 2009.

Funding for the year was primarily concentrated in large, later-stage deals. In addition to SpaceX, Blue
Origin, and OneWeb’s $1B+ investment rounds, we saw a record number of Series C+ raises from
companies like Relativity Space ($140M), LandSpace ($70M), Satellogic ($50M), Orbital Insight ($50M),
and Spire ($40M). We believe this reflects a healthy maturation of the entrepreneurial space ecosystem
as early-stage companies graduate from concept to growth.

While investment has primarily been concentrated in the U.S., 2019 provided evidence that the
Entrepreneurial Space Age has gone global with the amount of non-U.S. funding doubling Y/Y. Q4 2019
was particularly active for China, with 34% of funding in the quarter.

Capital was invested primarily in the Launch and Satellite industries in 2019, as it was for most of
the decade. Going forward, we expect robust deal volume in Satellites to continue as applications
for satellite imagery develop. However, we also anticipate greater activity in nascent markets as new
startups are able to leverage pre-existing infrastructure and government programs like NASA’s Tipping
Point and NextSTEP, the Air Force’s AFWERX, and the Space Force’s Commercial Solutions Opening.

LeoLabs, a Space Angels portfolio company, is a critical example of a startup building on top of space
infrastructure. In October, the company unveiled its new Kiwi Space Radar capable of tracking objects as
small as two centimeters in low Earth orbit. With thousands of satellites in orbit and tens of thousands
expected to be launched in the coming years, this technology is especially important as companies
seek clear orbits to safely operate in.

This past decade, the entrepreneurial space ecosystem has proven itself to be financially robust,
increasingly global, and thematically diverse. With the strong momentum going into the next decade,
we at Space Angels are incredibly excited to continue supporting the entrepreneurs at the forefront of
innovation in the space economy.

© Space Angels 2020

3
Front cover image courtesy of LeoLabs
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DAWN OF THE ENTREPRENEURIAL SPACE AGE YEAR-TO-DATE EQUITY INVESTMENTS

Cumulative Equity Investments From 2009 To Present Investment Amount

$5.8B
Governmental Entrepreneurial
Space Age Space Age
NUMBER OF ROUNDS EARLY-STAGE3 INVESTMENT EARLY-STAGE ROUNDS

$25.7B
198 $686M 143
1969 2009 2010 2012 2014 2015 2018
Apollo landed SpaceX first SpaceX SpaceX Dragon NanoRacks SpaceX SpaceX
on the moon successful publishes becomes first launches lands orbital Falcon Heavy Investment in
launch of launch prices; commercial commercial booster, unlocks Space1
commercial introduces space vehicle to deployment ushers in commercial
payload market berth with ISS via ISS reusability deep space
transparency operations
By Stage
347 Companies Investment Amount Round Share
Satellites
$12.3 B
535 $20 B $2.5 B
Number of 7%
95 Companies 500
$12.2 B Companies 5%
4%
Launch Receiving $2.0 B
Investment1
37 Companies 13%
$15 M $1.5 B
Media &
Education 400 $15 B 51%

$1.0 B
13 Companies
$193 M 22%
Interplanetary
$.5 B
11 Companies 300
$518 M Seed Series A Series B
Biosphere $10 B $0
Series C Late Stage Other5
Seed Series A Series B Series C Late Stage4 Other5
11 Companies
Information $71 M
200 Capital was mostly concentrated in Late Stage with SpaceX In 2019, the share of Seed and Series A deals declined slightly, while
& Research and OneWeb each raising $1B+ in later stage rounds. Jeff Bezos’ Series C, Late Stage, and Other increased. Growth in the number
self-capitalization of Blue Origin made Other the second largest of Series C deals was most notable, increasing 75% Y/Y. Q4 was
11 Companies
investment category. particularly active for Series C deals such as Landspace, Satelles,
$130 M
Industrials $5 B and Satellogic.

10 Companies 100 By Industry & Sector6

$199 M

Inform
Logistics Investment Amount Round Share

Media & Educati

ation &
He 4 r

Interp
av ou
y L nd

Researc
$3.0 B

Int
Logistics on

Ind
au s
ati

lane
erp
erv

nc

ust ary
bs ds

lan
1969 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 h O roun

tary
Positioning, Navigation, Timing

on
rial
r t

et

h
Ea 66

s
$2.5 B Operations & Ground Segments
Manufacturing & Components Sma
ll L
33 ro aunch Launch
Annual Investment Source Cumulative Investment Location $2.0 B Earth Observation
unds
37 rounds

Communications
$7 B Angel/Individual
$1.5 B Small Launch Satellites
134 rounds
Venture Capital
$6 B 6% Heavy Launch
Corporate ing
n, Tim
5% United States atio
$5 B Other2 $1.0 B vig s
, Na
ing round
7%
United Kingdom sitio
n 6
Po
& ts
$4 B France ns en
$0.5 B io
at gm s
p er Se nd
China O nd rou

Ma omp unds
& C 5 ro
55% ou 6

ds s

nu on
$3 B Gr 1

3
17 nicatio

fac en
Singapore

tur ts
$0

roun

ing
24% Japan

mu
$2 B Launch Satellites Logistics Industrials Media & Interplanetary

Com
Education
Other2
$1 B
In 2019, the Heavy Launch sector received the most capital in 2019, With satellite imagery creating dozens of new applications on Earth,
$0 driven by Blue Origin and SpaceX. Within Satellites, Positioning, it’s no surprise that the majority of deal activity occurs within the Earth
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Navigation, and Timing was particularly strong thanks to large raises Observation sector (33%). Going forward, we expect that trend to
Funding in 2019 increased 73% Y/Y and surpassed 2017 as the largest The U.S. continues to lead global investment in Space, receiving from Qianxun SI and Hawkeye 360. continue but we also anticipate more activity in nascent markets as new
year on record for Space investment by nearly $700M. Capital was evenly 55% of investment since 2009. However, China was particularly startups are able to leverage pre-existing infrastructure and government
distributed among Angel/Individual, Corporate, and Venture Capital, with active in Q4, receiving 34% of total investment in the quarter. Capital programs like NASA’s Tipping Point and NextSTEP, the Air Force’s
each contributing about a third of total investment. in China went primarily to the Satellite and Launch industries. AFWERX, and the Space Force’s Commercial Solutions Opening.
4 1. Cumulative non-governmental equity investment 3. Early Stage is comprised of Pre-Seed, Seed, and Series A deals 5. “Other” includes non-traditional investments and self-capitalization from Jeff Bezos, Robert Bigelow, Richard Branson, and Elon Musk, who we have 5
2. Other includes Foundations, Private Equity, Sovereign Wealth Funds, Mutual Funds, Crowd Platforms, etc. 4. Late Stage is comprised of Series D+ and Liquidity Rounds classified as individual investors providing large investments (hundreds of millions) in their own companies during unclassified rounds
6. See industry segmentation chart.
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INVESTMENT ACTIVITY INVESTMENT ACTIVITY

Select Space Angels Portfolio Fundraising YTD Investment Amount and Deals by Quarter

$2.5 B 70
COMPANY ROUND AMOUNT LEAD Launch
60 Satellites
SpaceX Series K $540,744,228 Undisclosed $2.0 B
50 Industrials
SpaceX Series J $226,800,224 Baillie Gifford
$1.5 B Information & Research
SpaceX Series L $214,000,000 Ontario Teachers’ Pension Fund 40
Logistics

HawkEye 360 Series B $70,000,000 Undisclosed 30

$1.0 B Biosphere

Isotropic Systems Series A $14,100,000 Boeing HorizonX Ventures 20 Interplanetary

$0.5 B Media & Education

10
Eighteen Space Angels portfolio companies have raised capital across 22 rounds in 2019, representing 21% of total equity investment across the Number of Deals
Space Economy. In addition to the companies listed above, we also welcomed Picterra, FluroSat, Totum Labs, SpeQtral, and Arbol to the portfolio
$0 0
this year.
Q4 2018 Q1 2019 Q2 2019 Q3 2019 Q4 2019
Investment in Q4 2019 decreased 23% Y/Y and 64% Q/Q as both Q4 2018 and Q3 2019 saw substantial investment. The Y/Y decline in investment was
Top 10 Market Investments YTD7 driven by a decline in deal volume, while the Q/Q decline was driven by a decline in deal volume and average deal size.

COMPANY ROUND AMOUNT LEAD Cumulative Number of Venture Funds Investing in Space
Blue Origin Self-Capitalized $1,400,000,000 8
Jeff Bezos
800 Pre-2009
OneWeb Undisclosed $1,250,000,000 Softbank Group, Grupo Salinas
700
Space Angels
Benchmark Capital
Data Collective
Foundry Group
769
Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) Promus Ventures
SpaceX Series K $540,744,228 Undisclosed First Round Capital Shasta Ventures Craft Ventures
600 Founders Fund
Future Ventures
Index Ventures RRE Ventures
SpaceX Series J $226,800,224 Baillie Gifford Founder Collective Bond Capital
500 Kleiner Perkins Sequoia Greycroft Tribe Capital
New Enterprise Associates (NEA)
Canaan Partners Thrive Capital Accel Partners Forerunner Ventures
SpaceX Series L $214,000,000 Ontario Teachers’ Pension Fund Norwest Venture Parters
400 Lux Capital True Ventures Andreesen Horowitz Tusk Ventures
Playground Global Earlybird Venture Capital
Qianxun SI Joint Venture $140,470,000 China Reform Hlds Corp, Shanghai Intl Grp Bessemer Venture Partners Box Group
300
GGV Capital
Relativity Space Series C $140,000,000 Bond, Tribe Capital Felicis Ventures
Lightspeed Venture Partners
200 Spark Capital
Khosla Ventures 500 Startups SV Angel
Loon Joint Venture $125,000,000 HAPSMobile (Softbank) Greylock Capital
100
Techstars
Virgin Galactic PIPE $120,000,000 Chamath Palihapitiya, Horizon X Y Combinator
0
Synspective Series A $80,000,000 9
aSTART 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
In 2019, a record 148 new venture firms made their first investments in the Space economy, bringing the total to 769. In Q4, Earlybird Capital, a prominent
Investment in 2019 was particularly concentrated within these ten deals, representing 73% of total investment for the year. New additions to this list European venture fund, did its first deal in the Space economy, leading Isar Aerospace’s Series A round alongside Airbus Ventures.
include Qianxun SI, a Chinese precision navigation company that raised $140M from China Reform Holdings Corporation and Virgin Galactic, which
raised $120M through a PIPE from Chamath Palihapitiya and Boeing HorizonX Ventures.

Total Rounds by Stage

Select Acquisitions YTD Cumulative Acquisitions by Sector 100% 250

SELLER BUYER AMOUNT

$70 B Satellites
$60 B Launch 200
Inmarsat Apax Partners $3,400,000,000
Industrials
Dynetics Leidos $1,650,000,000 $50 B Series C+
Biosphere
Hispasat Red Eléctrica de España $1,110,000,000 $40 B Media & Education Series B
150
Genscape Wood Mackenzie $364,000,000 $30 B
Newtec ST Engineering $281,300,000
50% Series A
$20 B

$10 B 100 Seed

In Q4, Dynetics, a propulsion systems and small satellite developer, was
$0
acquired by Leidos for $1.65B, making it the second largest acquisition of the Number
2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 of Rounds
year. Also in Q4, Scisys, a satellite ground segment infrastructure company, 50
was acquired by CGI Group for $103M.
With a number of venture-backed Space companies
graduating to the Series C+ stage, we expect to see exits
accelerate in the next couple of years. This will be an 0% 0
essential data point to demonstrate that robust financial 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
returns can be achieved in the Space sector. In 2019, we saw a record number of Series C+ deals. We believe this reflects a healthy maturation of the entrepreneurial Space ecosystem as early-stage
(Seed, Series A) companies graduate from concept to growth (Series B, Series C).

6 7. Deals listed based on totality of available data 9. Although headlines show Synspective raising $100M in July, that figure represents total funding since formation. 7
8. Based on legal filings, public disclosures, and media publications, we estimate $1.4B went to Blue Origin
following Jeff Bezos’ sale of $2.8B of Amazon stock.
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With $767M invested into Space companies in the fourth quarter, total funding for the year has OUR METHODOLOGY
reached $5.8B, making 2019 the largest year on record for Space investment. Cumulatively,
$25.7B has now been invested into 535 unique space companies since 2009. This past decade, COMPANIES TRACKED ROUNDS CATALOGUED EXITS CATALOGUED
the entrepreneurial space ecosystem has proven itself to be financially robust, increasingly
global, and thematically diverse. With the incredible momentum going into the next decade, we
at Space Angels are incredibly excited to continue supporting the entrepreneurs at the forefront
1,660 1,287 181
of innovation in the space economy.
Space Angels launched the Space Investment Quarterly in October 2017 with the aim of uncovering
insights about investing in the space economy. The data shown in this report is gathered from a
number of sources across many categories, and no single piece of data can be added to our databases
until confirmed by multiple sources. Our reported data is subject to change over time as previously
SELECT PORTFOLIO MILESTONES undisclosed deals are added to our database. Below is a select list of our data sources:

LeoLabs unveils next generation with Kiwi Space Radar

SpaceX reaches parachute testing milestone Investment Crowd Confidential Public News
Made In Space Europe wins LSA contract to develop inexpensive robotic arm Databases Platforms Sources Announcements
SpaceX tests Crew Dragon abort thrusters • Pitchbook • AngelList • Diligence Process • Press Releases • Bloomberg
Isotropic Systems Completes Bi-Directional Over-the-Air Satellite Tests • Crunchbase • SeedInvest • Company Management • SEC Filings • CNBC
• Mattermark • Kickstarter • Co-Investors • Events • Fortune
Made In Space to launch commercial recycler to space station
• CB Insights • Indiegogo • Commercial Partners • SpaceNews
SpaceX launches second batch of Starlink broadband satellites • Government Partners • TechCrunch

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
The Space Angels Podcast regularly interviews
commercial space entrepreneurs and industry
experts, providing insight into the opportunities
and risks of early-stage space investing.
Information Central dives deeper into the
commercial space economy covering major
sectors, innovative technologies, and public-
private partnerships.
ABOUT
Space Angels is the leading source of capital for early-stage space companies. Founded in 2007, our
portfolio includes many of the most prominent entrepreneurial companies in the Space economy.
Through a robust and streamlined web platform, Space Angels provides unparalleled deal access and
comprehensible intelligence to its accredited investor members, making it easy to discover, select, and
invest in the most compelling space startups.

ASSETS CONTACT
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