Space Investment Hit Record $3.2 Billion Last Year, Bryce Says

Last year marked a record for investment in space startups, with $3.2 billion from venture capital and angel investors, Bryce Space and Technology said Thursday. Since 2000, space startups have attracted close to $21.8 billion, with activity particularly intense since 2015, it said. In the early 2000s, an average of four funded space companies started per year, and in the past six years the number has averaged 21 annually, it said. Last year's activity was driven largely by big investments in SpaceX and Blue origin, it said, saying more investment growth is expected this year. U.S. companies receive about 80 percent of overall startup space investment, and companies in China and the U.K. received most of the non-U.S. investment, it said. Roughly half of the space startup investment was from non-U.S. sources, it said. Separately, the Space Foundation said U.S. federal investment in space rose 10 percent in 2018. NASA's $20.74 billion budget and DOD's $24.53 billion in space spending was the vast bulk of the overall $48.31 billion. The foundation said globally, governments spent $77.22 billion on space.