Space Tech Investors: To Infinity and Beyond
Venture Capitalists ponder about a few things when looking into a technology space. They include TAM (Total Addressable Market), investors, startups, capital in the space, maturity, and exits. Due to the nature of the field generally, VCs along with the entrepreneurs that they fund are the tip of the spear for technology development of the world. In many ways the quintessential technology for pushing our world forward is Space Technology.

Fortunately, I’m not the only one of this opinion and there are a few firms actively investing in the Space Tech space. Above are a snapshot by CBInsights on the most active Space Tech Investors, including Bessemer Venture Partners, Founders Fund, and Space Angels.
According to CBInsights Space Angels, which is a network of Angel Investors, has invested in 24 companies and deployed more than $126M. They are the most active investors in Space Tech. Led by Chad Anderson a former JP Morgan Chase executive in charge of $50 billion real estate portfolio, Chad has directed the team to invest smaller amounts over a spread of companies. The Angels most recent investments for the year of 2018 are LeoLabs, Made In Space, Iceye, and SpaceWatch Space Applications.
Founders Fund is the second most active investors in the sector, being the backers of a name brand firm such as SpaceX. Founders Fund was founded by Peter Theil, Ken Howery, Sean Parker, and Luke Nosek. Reported by Pitchbook to have $3.19B under management. In the sector they have invested over $230M in companies such as SpaceX, Accion Systems, Planet Labs, Moon Express.
Although not in the top three most active investors in the Space Tech sector, Tencent Holdings is worth mentioning. Referred to as the “SoftBank of China” by Quartz, has invested in over 30 companies in 2018 alone. Tencent was also an investor in Moon Express, a Founders Fund investment. Frenzy is the recent investment that they have made in the Space sector. Tencent space investments are in Planetary Resources a company focused on allowing humans to mine resources such as water from asteroids. Another investment, is in nano satellites for real time data feed of Earth.
The space sector is an expanding area for investors and I’m excited to see further developments.

