We are excited to announce this year’s update of Seraphim’s Space Tech Ecosystem map. This map seeks to demonstrate our view on the leading businesses in each segment of the Space Tech value chain. Through our position as the world’s largest and most prolific space-focused VC fund, we’ve gathered a panoptic view of innovation in the market through both the 3,000+ companies we’ve directly engaged with and the 500+ that we are tracking through our Quarterly Space Index.

Below are a few highlights we pulled from our analysis of the Ecosystem Map:

• This year’s map is comprised of more than 300 companies from 32 countries – the most geographically diverse to date.
• As with previous year’s maps, US, UK, China and Germany accounted for the largest proportion of companies. Newcomers to this year’s map include Lithuania and Russia. We’d expect many more companies to be represented in future versions from emerging countries such as Russia and India that have deep Space sector heritage.
• The Upstream categories have remained the most populated sections, accounting for 50% of the companies on the map and commensurate with where most of the funding is flowing to. We view the growth of the upstream category as a result of cheaper access to space and miniaturisation of space hardware, resulting in innovative launch businesses, satellite constellations, and sensors/subsystems.
• The Data - Satellites category only represents a handful of the most progressed businesses in their sector. For a more detailed map of the all the smallsat constellations we have tracked, please see the Seraphim SmallSat constellation map.
• Constellation subsidiaries are becoming a main driver of future value for notable space businesses and why this iteration of the map saw the inclusion of Starlink (part of SpaceX), Blacksky (Spaceflight spin out and recent SPAC at $1.5b) and PredaSAR (part of Terran Orbital), and so we found it important to represent these subsidiaries in their own right.
• Space Tugs are now represented in their own section of the map because we see a huge opportunity in the last mile in-space transport, as demonstrated in our investment in D-Orbit and Momentus’ planned SPAC merger.
• Downstream businesses are now moving upstream and verticalizing with plans to launch their own constellations. Examples of this include Climacell recently announcing their intentions to launch a constellation of weather monitoring satellites and Aurora Insight launching its first satellite in January.

As with previous editions of the map, we have not sought to include every company we’ve identified, in our map – it is a small sample of the businesses we’ve engaged with to date, and is meant to be representative of those companies we’ve identified as having the highest-profile and/or the highest potential. We periodically update the map, so we’ve love to hear from any companies we may have overlooked or feel we have positioned them incorrectly in the map.

We segment the Space Tech ecosystem into the following 7 categories that primarily relate to the data lifecycle:

Build – Building and selling satellites and drones. We look at both the hardware (sub-systems, complete platforms, novel sensors and new materials) and software (i.e. mission control, cybersecurity).

Launch – Building and launching rockets, orbital transfer vehicles (Space tugs/ taxis) and offering launch aggregation and services. We also consider autonomous flight such as drone delivery.

Data – Satellite constellations, high altitude pseudo satellite (HAPS) platforms and drones collecting and communicating proprietary data, across the three main applications of earth observation, communications and navigation.

Downlink – Technologies facilitating the transmission of data from space and aerial platforms back down to earth. This includes phased-array antennas, laser communications, inter-satellite data relay systems, quantum security and ground stations.

Analyse – Changing low-level processed data into valuable insights, offering a subscription service to enterprise customers. Includes the analysis of data from space and aerial platforms using machine learning techniques.

Product – Packaging of different data streams (fusing space and terrestrial sources), tailored to specific use cases in discrete verticals. This includes data platforms such as space and drone traffic management, mapping platforms and precision location & tracking.

Beyond Earth – Technologies and infrastructure to enable in-space services for satellites and launchers, furthering space exploration efforts and research in microgravity environments.