by Raphael Roettgen
March had another three announcements of mergers between space companies and SPACs, for a total of over US$1.5 billion of gross proceeds (we consider cash in trust plus PIPE, assuming no redemptions and before fees). It is probably widely expected that there will be further space-SPAC transactions and we at SPAC(e)watch.global will keep track of these!
Besides the SPACs, we saw a blockbuster Series B for U.S. small launch provider ABL and various other, smaller rounds across geographies and subsectors. Of note is also the EU supporting satellite IoT company Hiber via an investment out of its European Innovation Council (EIC) fund.
Reminder: if you are following the new space sector and are looking for a concise introduction to its trends, main business activities, and possible outlook (and if you happen to speak German!) you may be interested in my new book I recently published with Spacewatch.Global – you can check it out here.
| Company | US$m | Country | Subsector | Investors |
| Rocket Lab
|
790
(SPAC) |
U.S./NZ | Launch
|
Vector Capital, BlackRock, Neuberger Berman, others
|
| Spire
|
475
(SPAC)
|
U.S. | Remote sensing
|
Tiger Global, BlackRock, Hedosophia, JAWS, Bloom Tree Partners, others
|
| Redwire
|
266
(SPAC)
|
U.S. | Diversified (space company roll-up)
|
Senvest, Crescent Park, others |
| ABL Space Systems | 170 | U.S. | Launch | Fidelity, T. Rowe Price, others
|
| Hiber | 30.5 | Netherlands | Satcom (IoT) | European Innovation Council, Finch Capital, Netherlands Enterprise Agency, Hartenlust Group, Laurens Groenendijk
|
| Gitai
|
17.1 | Japan | Spacecraft components (robotics)
|
Dai-ichi Life, Daiwa Corporate Investment, EP-GB, SPARX Innovation for the Future
|
| Orbex | 8.8 | UK | Launch | European Space Agency |
| Pixxel | 7.3 | India
|
Remote sensing
|
Blume Ventures, growX ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Omnivore, Ryan Johnson, Techstars
|
| Utilis Inc. | 6.0 | Israel | Remote sensing – downstream | Beringea |
| Skyrora | 3.5 | UK | Launch | European Space Agency |
| Venus Aerospace | 3.2 | U.S. | Hypersonic aircraft | XFactor Ventures, Prime Movers Lab, Boost VC, Draper Associates, Saturn Five
|
| Epsilon3 | 1.0 | U.S. | Software | Stage Venture Partners, others
|
| Esper Satellite Imagery
|
NA | Australia | Remote sensing | NA |
| Hermeus | NA | U.S. | Hypersonic aircraft | NASA |
| Rural Farmers Hub | NA | Nigeria | Remote sensing – downstream | iNOVO |
| Spacechips | NA
(debt) |
UK | Spacecraft components (chips) | HSBC
|
Raphael Roettgen provides financial advice to and invests proprietary capital in space companies as a managing director and founder of E2MC. He also advises institutional investors and governments on space. Previously, Raphael has held senior roles at global investment banks and hedge funds and was also a fintech entrepreneur in Brazil. He holds degrees in finance from Wharton, machine learning from PUC-Rio and space studies from the International Space University, as well as the CFA and FRM charters.
