By Deborah D'Souza Updated Feb 19, 2021
The total equity investment over the last decade in the space economy was $177.7 billion, according to Space Capital. It was spread across 1,343 unique companies, and firms in the U.S. and China collectively accounted for 75% of that amount. They were followed by Singapore (6%), Britain (4%), Indonesia (3%) and India (3%). The total investment in infrastructure (launch, satellites, logistics etc.) has jumped to a record $8.9 billion in 2020. Of course, the space economy isn't just rockets, spaceships and tourism. In fact, companies involved in applications, like positioning, navigation and earth observation, account for the lion's share of funds each year.
Source: Space Capital. Backed by Billionaires
The great beyond is on investors' minds after NASA's Mars rover Perseverance successfully landed yesterday, ending a 293 million mile journey that took over 203 days. But interest in space technology companies has been rising since 2013, as seen in the chart above, with famous names like Elon Musk (SpaceX), Jeff Bezos (Blue Origin) and Richard Branson (Virgin Orbit) making headlines with their own endeavors. Recently Salesforce co-founder Marc Benioff-backed Astra Space announced it's going public via SPAC at a $2.1 billion valuation, and it just hired Apple veteran Benjamin Lyon as Chief Engineer. Cathie Wood's famed ARK Investment Management plans to launch an ARK Space Exploration ETF . Speculation is currently underway about what the holdings may be. Top holdings in the other two space ETFs - Procure Space ETF (UFO) and the SPDR S&P Kensho Final Frontiers ETF (ROKT) - include Virgin Galactic (SPCE), Maxar Technologies (MAXR), Raytheon Technologies (RTX), Loral Space & Communications (LORL) and Gilat Satellite Networks (GILT).