SpaceWatch.Global is on a mission: to share with you every single space-tech deal globally, every month. We transparently show who’s included, and who’s not included in our list and explain why.
October is traditionally seen as a strong month for VC, after post-summer leads have been diligenced and negotiated. It’s no different for the space tech industry: 27 companies raised a whopping $1.33b in venture funding last month. This makes October the second-best month of the year so far, only behind February ($1.76b).
The top three recipients of funds raised this month were three North American companies: X-energy’s advanced nuclear energy ($500m), Blockstream’s satellite provision for access to the Bitcoin blockchain ($210m), and Impulse Space’s in-space transportation products ($150m). The only non-American investment in this range was the Exploration Company (Germany: €150m), which tied for third place with Impulse Space.
Deal of the Month
Despite the big hauls in North America, it’s two Chinese laser communications startups that are our joint deals of the month:
- Tianjin Yunyao Aerospace Technology (aka HiStarlink) – raised over $28m.
- Beijing Aurora Starlink Technology Co., Ltd (aka Laser Starcom) – raised over $28m.
Blaine Curcio, Space & Satcom Industry Consultant and expert on China’s Space Sector, says the HiStarlink and Laser Starcom deals are emblematic of a bigger trend towards upstream investment in the spacetech industry, beyond those companies focusing on satellites, rockets, and launch.
Still, he says, laser communications’ wide utility might be a while off.
“Places that are good for laser comms like the middle east, Western Australia, they’re all looking at laser comms, but for the rest of us, it remains pretty far off” Curcio says.
Still, with HiStarlink using the funding to ramp up production to over 1,000 laser terminals per year, it could be indicative that China is placing a bet on satellite laser communications as a vital technology of the spacetech future.
Curcio says it’s smart for the West to pay attention to Chinese suppliers. “10 years ago, there were 200 EVs in China, and even though 90% of them failed, some of the ones who survived like BYD are suddenly highly cost-competitive players in the market” says Curcio. “If space opens up, and Chinese upstream suppliers are able to service outside of their domestic market, they will be very cost competitive.”
Both deals raised “hundreds of millions of Yuan” (100 RMB = ~$14m), so our estimates here are on the low side – the deals may have been much larger.
All deals in October 2024, by $ (descending)
- X-energy (USA) – advanced nuclear energy incl in-orbit propulsion – raised $500m.
- Blockstream (Canada) – Bitcoin/blockchain incl satellite access – raised $210m.
- The Exploration Company (Germany) – modular space capsules – raised €150m.
- Impulse Space (USA) – in-space transportation – raised $150m.
- All.Space (UK) – advanced communications technologies – raised $44m.
- xFarm Technologies (Switzerland) – satellite imagery land management – raised €36m.
- OQ Technology (Luxembourg) – global satellite 5g IoT – raised €30m.
- Helium Star Lightlink Technology (China) – laser comms – raised RMB200m.
- Tianjin Yunyao Aerospace Technology (China) – space weather data – raised RMB200m.
- Beijing Aurora Starlink Technology Co., Ltd (China) – space laser comms – raised RMB200m.
- OroraTech (Germany) – wildfire detection & monitoring from space – raised €25m.
- Conflux Technology (Australia) – heat transfer and additive manufacturing – raised $11m.
- Stellar Telecommunications (France) – in-vehicle digital services – raised €9.3m.
- Constellation Technologies & Operations (France) – satellite internet – raised €9.3m.
- Lumen Orbit (USA) – orbital data centres – raised $10m.
- Delos Insurance Solutions (USA) – space imagery for home insurance – raised $9m.
- Argo Space Corp. (USA) – in-space transportation – raised $7.9m.
- XDLink (India) – nano- and micro-satellite platform developer – raised $7m.
- Wyvern (Canada) – hyperspectral imaging – raised $6m.
- AIKO (France) – AI in-orbit asset management – raised €3.5m.
- Fortius Metals (USA) – high performance welding wire – raised $2m.
- Zaitra (Czech Republic) – AI for satellite autonomy – raised €700k.
- Soil Benchmark (UK) – satellite imagery soil management planning – raised £540k.
Raised an undisclosed amount:
- Proteus Space (USA) – electric propulsion systems.
- Astro Mechanica (USA) – electric propulsion systems.
- Arceon (Netherlands) – Advanced Ceramic Matrix Composites.
- New Frontier Aerospace (USA) – propulsion engines.
Estimating the size of the Spacetech industry
SpaceWatch.Global estimates that so far in 2024, 221 companies have raised $4.96b of venture equity funding.
- January: 27 deals, $533m
- February: 35 deals, $1.79b
- March: 12 deals, $94m
- April: 26 deals, $472m
- May: 22 deals, $270m
- June: 25 deals, $738m
- July: 31 deals, $535m
- Aug: 19 deals, $170m
- Sept: 21 deals, $334m
- Oct: 27 deals, $1.33b
Benchmarking our estimate
The Dealroom/ESA Space Tech Dashboard is a great way to benchmark our estimate. Generally, the dashboard has a more expansive definition of spacetech (including, for example, terrestrial drones, ground sensors, or startups using GPS for golfing scopes).
Dealroom estimates that in October 2024, 20 space-tech companies raised a total of approx. $1.29b USD. As of publication, the dashboard also includes 6 additional deals, worth $92m, which we classify as either not space-tech, or not venture capital. The VentureSpace list includes seven companies not listed on Dealroom’s dashboard at time of publication: Conflux, Argo, XDLink, Fortius, Zaitra, New Frontier Aerospace, and Beijing Aurora Starlink Technology Co., Ltd.
Get in touch at [email protected] and we are happy to share more about our methodology, who’s included, who’s not, and more information about each investment.
