VC Space Investor Returns Seen Possibly Coming in Near Term
Venture capital investors in commercial space in recent years are waiting to see returns or an opportunity to cash out, Bessemer Venture Partners Vice President Tess Hatch said Wednesday at an FAA-organized commercial space event. She said over the next…
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couple of years, SpaceX, Rocket Lab, Spire, Planet and Orbital are the most-likely space operators to be able to provide that. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said, along with its work to streamline launch and re-entry requirements to help foster the commercial launch industry, the agency created an Office of Spaceports and is working to integrate launch into the nation's airspace management system. She said commercial space is a White House priority. "The president is fascinated with space," she said. Deloitte analyst Jeff Matthews said private equity has been the lifeblood of space startups, but more nations are looking at investing in nascent space businesses there via government grants. Capella Space CEO Payam Banazedah said one challenge for many startups is they might be relatively niche, while venture capital wants potential high-return opportunities. He said Capella -- which launched its first satellite last year and plans seven more in 2020 -- is focusing on government defense and intelligence customers first, because the commercial market for synthetic-aperture radar imagery is at least five years out. John Gedmark, CEO of geostationary orbit satellite-provided mobile backhaul company Astranis, said the expected non-geostationary orbit mega constellation boom will bring global coverage at low latency, but the economics of those constellations remains a challenge. Gedmark said those NGSOs face the challenge of less-mature regulatory regimes and the uncertainty that comes with that. Banazedah said getting to space is still unreliable and hard, especially for small satellites, and that could kill startups.