GEO / MEO / LEO – Satellite in the Finance Markets
What better combination of talents to discuss a range of strategic trends and finely nuanced issues pertaining to the financing of satellite and space business than a space sector analyst dedicated to research, strategy, investment banking, M&A, and financing; an experienced investment/merchant banker dealing in asset management focused on mission-critical communications infrastructure; and the head of a venture capital firm managing a pioneering fund backed by a range of leading space corporates investing in space related start-ups, and of a business accelerator backed by Rolls Royce, DSTL, Inmarsat, ESA and UK Space Agency; all moderated by a leading law firm’s head of its Transportation and Space Group.
Is the satellite and space industry at a financial crossroads? That was the fundamental opening question and the answers, which you can see and hear verbatim by clicking on the webinar recording below, are both revealing and firmly establish that the investment mood around the industry is not only healthy, but profoundly buoyant. Some of the figures quoted are startlingly robust!
The “sharp and on-point commentary”, as the discussion was characterised by the moderator, took both a high-level overview of the economic characteristics of, and major trends in, the industry, together with encompassing a broad analysis of financial sector structural changes and evolution in the variety of today’s investor stakeholders in space, which has come to include corporates from both within the space and satellite ecosystem as well as corporates from outside the industry but looking to the industry for, sometimes disruptive, solutions to new applications requirements.
Such developments have made the topic of the financing of space-related business ever-more challenging as legacy considerations regarding government policy issues (e.g., on spectrum usage and regulation), insurance, dual-use technologies, national security & defence, and maintaining space sustainability through the disposal of satellites at end-of-life, are added to through a complex of new financial networking relationships where the ever greater shift of emphasis is on the attraction of, and potential returns from “disruption”. The power and promise of solutions from “disruption”, combined with passionate belief and conviction, seem to be a powerful persuader of, and for, the people with the money.
Listen-in to this webinar to hear views on bankruptcies and restructurings, what technologies are “overhyped”, which technologies are under-invested, the future of broadband LEO, and the place of government activity and funding in an increasingly private-led space industrialisation. Just like the hundreds who tuned in to the live broadcast, you’ll find the details, and the opportunities, fascinating.