[ad_1]
The space industry works in waves: there are huge highs and huge lows, but it’s always exhilarating. Three venture capitalists who invest in the space joined us on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt on Monday to talk about what comes next in this dynamic area.
Much of current investing is influenced by the SPAC boom of 2021 and subsequent collapse, which saw the valuations of many of those companies dwindle to a fraction of their previous value. But it’s hard to know whether the industry has recovered from that event, especially since the path to the exits is unclear, said Jordan Nunn, co-founder of Embedded Ventures.
“I think this SPAC wave was a one-time phenomenon, and those lessons are learned where investors who went through that phase made some money, some didn’t, some had spectacular exits, some were disastrous, but the current market said, ‘Don’t buy it,’” he said. “I think exit routes are a big question in the current wave of startups, whether those are growth companies or early-stage companies.”
Lewis Jones, general investment partner at Seraphim Space, said the SPAC phenomenon was ultimately healthy for the industry, although it was painful for investors at the time: “I think people now realize that you can’t take space companies public too soon.” “. . “The acquisitions that have been made in the last few quarters have not necessarily been desirable outcomes, and we haven’t necessarily seen a path to properly take a space company public and win that. So hopefully this change will cause people to start thinking about it, and there will be some good opportunities in the future.
But if the past has made some investors shy away from investing in space, it has not shied away from all of them. Caitlin Holloway, co-founder of Seven Seven Six, said that although her company has only made three investments in the space, it expects it to grow in the future.
“For decades, people have been working deeply and desperately on these advances in technology, advances in funding and interest. So you see NASA making grants, yes, but very risk averse,” she said. “So what you see now is people “Highly vulnerable, very high-risk, and they help move things forward.”
Much of the risk comes not from technical risk, but from market risk. As the industry matures and moves to the application layer, there are a lot of less technically risky bets to be made at the application layer, Jones said.
“I’m very much looking forward to geospatial startups,” he said. “You’re not necessarily betting on their ability to develop new AI algorithms. It’s very much, how do you leverage the data? It becomes more market-focused than technology-focused.”
Holloway said the teams that will ultimately win are the ones that charge.
“The teams that will be the ones that will win are the ones that will outperform by shipping. We have a bunch of companies that dream up big, beautiful, amazing, very inspiring ideas, but they can’t make them happen. So the companies that will be the winners are the ones that can ship and ship very quickly.” .
Regarding future investment opportunities, Noon said he is excited about things becoming economically and technically possible in space with lower launch costs, such as orbital delivery, in-space manufacturing, and market on the moon.
[ad_2]