Investors Poured Record $14.5 Billion Into Space Companies Including Elon Musk’s SpaceX In 2021

The space industry received a record amount of private investments in the year, including a whopping $4.3 billion in the fourth quarter.

An illustration of a human lander that will carry astronauts to the Moon.

Nasa via ASSOCIATED PRESS

Space infrastructure companies received a record $14.5 billion of private investment in 2021, a 50% increase from the previous year, according to a new report.

The fourth quarter of 2016 saw $4.3 billion raised in a series of funding "mega-rounds", which was a new high for investments in space companies.

Sierra Space, which raised over $1 billion in a late stage funding round, was one of the top deals of the quarter.

According to Space Capital's report, there has been $252 billion in cumulative global equity investments into 1,694 different companies in the space economy.

Space Capital managing partner Chad Anderson said in the report that they see tremendous opportunities to scale mass adoption of the existing infrastructure as they look for new approaches to build and operate space-based assets.

The firm is very excited about the upcoming launch of the Starship by the company, which will change how we operate in space.

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Space Capital warned that the changing market environment could affect space investment activity this year despite the banner year for the industry. The recent flurry of newly-public space companies, many of whom are years away from profitability, may slow and see their shares adversely affected as rising interest rates slam technology and growth stocks. The risk for investors is increased by the cost of deep diligence, which came at the cost of the momentum we saw in 2021. He said that public markets have started the year with a selloff and that if it continues, venture firms may not find it as easy to raise record-setting funds as they did last year.

According to Space Capital, investment in the space economy requires specialist expertise. Some of the overvalued companies will come back down to Earth and the quality companies will rise above.

There were close encounters between his Starlink Satellites and the Chinese Space Station.