Whether reusable rockets or advanced imaging, space tech encompasses a variety of incredible new pursuits for businesses. Since 2009, $22 billion has been spent in venture-capital funding on some 476 space tech and space-related companies in a rapidly expanding market, according to Space Angels data.
Space is now being taken seriously as a sector. The market for space-related enterprises is worth about $350 billion and could be worth as much as $1 trillion by 2040, according to Morgan Stanley.
The applications vary from solving climate change and improving weather data to enabling cheaper rocket launches, greater mapping of space debris, as well as longer-term projects like space colonization and off-world heavy industry.
Business Insider spoke with key space investors who named these seven companies (in random order) as ones to watch.
Morgan Stanley
Oxford Space Systems
Mike Lawton, the CEO and founder of Oxford Space Systems.
Oxford Space Systems
Oxford Space Systems is an Oxford, UK-based company that specializes in deployable antennas and other structures for the global satellite industry.
Founded in 2013 by Mike Lawton, the company has raised $11.4 million to date with funding primarily coming from Space Angels alongside a syndicate of smaller UK-based VCs.
The company was cited by Chad Anderson of Space Angels as one of the hottest European space-tech stories, with expertise in developing new areas of space innovation.
Spire
Peter Platzer, one of Spire's cofounders.
Spire
Founded by three students from three companies in a café in Strasbourg, France, Spire uses nanosatellites to improve Earth imaging data.
Nanosatellites are, understandably, smaller than conventional earth orbiters and weigh 1 to 10 kilograms, and they tend to stick within the Earth's orbit.
The company was cited by Mark Boggett of Seraphim Capital as one to watch this year. Spire opened its first office in San Francisco and has since opened locations in three other cities.
Its founders, Jeroen Cappaert, Peter Platzer, and Joel Spark, have raised $140.5 million since Spire's launch in 2012.
"We did the research and saw that nanosatellites was a business that would grow exponentially," Platzer told Business Insider in an interview. "We saw something different to the rest of the world and now the world has dramatically changed."
SkyWatch
James Slifierz, SkyWatch CEO.
SkyWatch
The Waterloo, Ontario-based SkyWatch has raised $4.2 million since the company's founding in 2014.
The company uses a cloud-based system to build tech infrastructure to improve access to high resolution optical satellite data. SkyWatch's EarthCache is made up of satellite data from some of the largest providers available.
Some applications of SkyWatch's platform include companies that have built an application to remotely monitor oil and gas pipelines for leaks and damages, checked the health of solar panel farms, and tracked construction progress.
SpaceX
The SpaceX owner and Tesla CEO, Elon Musk.
Reuters
Probably the least surprising selection in this list, SpaceX nonetheless has been cited as a genuine pioneer in the space-tech field and a company from which many other businesses have spun out of.
Owned by one of Silicon Valley's biggest names, Elon Musk, SpaceX has changed the ecosystem for rocket launching and has pushed on with its plans to be able to reuse its rockets as it further reduces the cost of sending objects to space.
SpaceX was founded in 2002 with more than $3 billion raised via a variety of channels, including from the leveraged-loan market.
VCs such as Steve Jurvetson of Future Ventures and Chad Anderson of Space Angels said SpaceX would continue to make huge strides in the race for space.
LeoLabs
LeoLabs' CEO, Dan Ceperley, left, and chief technology officer, Mike Nicolls.
LeoLabs
LeoLabs is a Silicon Valley satellite-tracking company that has generated plenty of hype since its founding in 2015. The company can track objects in space to within 2 meters for a fraction of the cost of larger incumbents in the sector and has raised $17 million in VC funding to date.
LeoLabs can track the tens of thousands of objects that populate the Earth's low-level orbit and help ensure that space junk doesn't damage satellites and other installations in space. Founded by Dan Ceperley, LeoLabs recently announced that it would provide its services for the New Zealand Space Agency, according to Space News.
Astrobotic
Astrobotic Technology.
Astrobotic
Astrobotic is a Pittsburgh-based company that has raised $12.5 million for its business, which sends hardware into space for contractors.
The company was spun out of Carnegie Mellon University's robotics unit in 2008 and has received funding from Space Angels and NASA.
Space Angels' Anderson cites the company as one to watch. Astrobotic recently won a $5.6 contract from NASA to build a rover to help explore hard-to-reach and polar parts of the moon, according to SpaceRef.
Relativity Space
Tim Ellis, the CEO of Relativity Space.
Relativity Space
Relativity Space is a rocket company led by two former SpaceX employees in the form of 26-year-old CEO Tim Ellis and his cofounder Jordan Noone.
The company is building 3D printed rockets at a fraction of their traditional cost with more than 90% of each build coming from its massive Stargate 3D printer in California.
Relativity has brought in veterans from across the space industry to help continue its growth — having raised $45.7 million in VC funding since the company's founding in 2016.
