{"id":66730,"date":"2017-11-24T21:07:38","date_gmt":"2017-11-24T13:07:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/newspace-investments-could-start-to-pay-off-soon\/"},"modified":"2017-11-24T21:07:38","modified_gmt":"2017-11-24T13:07:38","slug":"newspace-investments-could-start-to-pay-off-soon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/newspace-investments-could-start-to-pay-off-soon\/","title":{"rendered":"NewSpace Investments Could Start to Pay Off Soon"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

The commercial satellite industry is on the cusp of seeing a slew of exits from former NewSpace startups, according to Seraphim Capital <\/strong>Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mark Boggett. In an interview with Via Satellite<\/em>, Boggett pointed to the growing sum of venture-backed capital in the space industry as evidence that a number of young companies are rapidly accelerating toward maturity.<\/p>\n

The team at Seraphim Capital \u2014 a venture fund that focuses exclusively on space technology \u2014 has kept a close eye on the space investment ecosystem over the last few years. According to their Seraphim Space Index, venture capitalists poured more than $3 billion into space technology between October 2016 and September 2017. The index noted that the amount of total capital has steadily increased quarter-over-quarter, and most likely, that number will continue to trend upward as investor appetite in space flourishes, Boggett said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are going to be some really successful and sizable businesses that are being developed right now. There\u2019s overwhelming evidence of that already,\u201d Boggett said. \u201cWhat\u2019s important is that there\u2019s a huge amount of money going in at all stages of the market. The focus just isn\u2019t around seed or [Series] A or B.\u201d<\/p>\n

Compared to just a few years ago, the number of venture funds that have acknowledged space as a growth area has exploded. Previously, there were just \u201da handful\u201d globally that had expressed marked interest, Boggett said. \u201cNow I think it\u2019s safe to say that the majority of the leading venture funds have all made investments in the space tech sector,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\"Mark
Mark Boggett, CEO and managing partner of Seraphim Capital. Photo: Seraphim Capital.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

While Boggett admits that there have been few successful exits thus far, \u201cthe wall of [maturing] space tech businesses\u201d has proved an interesting target both for larger incumbent space companies and traditional players in the broader tech market. Boggett highlighted Google\u2019s acquisition of Skybox Imaging<\/strong> (later renamed Terra Bella<\/strong>) and subsequent sell-off to Planet<\/strong> as one example. He also pointed to SoftBank\u2019s intense interest<\/strong> in the OneWeb-Intelsat merger<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese large companies have significant balance sheets and they\u2019re very capable of acquiring companies that are new and showing growth within that market,\u201d Boggett asserted. \u201cI think we\u2019re going to see a broader number of the traditional major internet and technology companies ultimately looking at this area for their future acquisitions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Currently, Seraphim Capital itself has an explicit focus on Earth Observation (EO) companies, as well as the market subcategories that comprise the EO supply chain. According to Boggett, this is because EO touches on a range of verticals that can benefit from using such data, from insurance and agriculture to transport, government and construction. \u201cWe\u2019re focused on all of the elements of the ecosystem that enable [EO] activity in space,\u201d Boggett added, which includes the collection of data, the downlink, storage, analytics and the product the data ultimately creates. \u201cWhat we are seeking to do is invest into the emerging best of breed in each of those distinct categories,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

When it comes to selecting a new target for investment, Boggett said the first and most important factor is the viability of the market, followed closely by the executives at the head of the company. \u201cIs there a clearly defined and large addressable market with major pain points the company is focused on? Once we\u2019ve been convinced that that\u2019s where the opportunity lies, we\u2019re then immediately looking at the quality of the team,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re looking to back inspirational, visionary CEOs \u2026 Ultimately, it\u2019s the people that drive the success of these businesses. When it comes down to it, it\u2019s the people that we\u2019re investing into.\u201d<\/p>\n

In particular, Seraphim is interested in supporting the low-cost initiatives of small satellite and nanosatellite companies. Iceye<\/strong>, a microsatellite operator focusing on Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data, fit the bill accordingly, Boggett said. In September, Iceye secured $1.2 million in a funding round led by Seraphim to accelerate development of its microsatellite technology. \u201cWe see a very significant market opportunity that mirrors the digital EO market for the analytics of their technology,\u201d Boggett said.<\/p>\n

For entrepreneurs seeking capital to get their startups off the ground, Boggett recommended doing as much \u201chomework\u201d on a potential venture capitalist in advance to understand whether they\u2019re speaking to the right investor. \u201cAre you speaking to an investor that invests in the stage you\u2019re looking to raise at? Have they made existing investments into companies that are relevant to the area that you\u2019re developing your business in?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Boggett also echoed panelists who spoke at the 2017 NextSpace Conference last week in San Francisco, California, noting that it\u2019s important to remember that any investor is as much a business partner as they are source of funds. \u201cHow can this investor help you grow your business in addition to them providing capital?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The commercial satellite industry is on the cusp of seeing a slew of exits from former NewSpace startups, according to Seraphim Capital Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mark Boggett. In an interview with Via Satellite, Boggett pointed to the growing sum of venture-backed capital in the space industry as evidence that a number of young companies […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":66731,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66730"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}