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Hundreds of space companies we have all grown to know and love were founded—and raised billions of dollars—on the assumption that SpaceX had solved launch with Falcon 9, all but guaranteeing reliable, predictable access to orbit. But that premise is now on shaky grounds, turning the future of many satellite businesses into an existential question.
Rocket Lab is buying Iridium, picking its application layer, and becoming the second fully vertically integrated space company.
Introducing the new crop of early-stage space startups.
MDA Space announced last week that it plans to buy Blue Canyon Technologies from RTX for $620M at a 4x revenue multiple.
The year was 1993, and Lockheed was without Martin, Northrop was without Grumman, and Boeing had not yet acquired McDonnell Douglas. The defense industry had a diverse set of suppliers, with over 50 defense primes competing for government contracts.
When Rocket Lab’s valuation matched that of Northrop’s on May 22nd—despite Rocket Lab having 60x less revenue—antennas went up. The company had another few days of bull before falling 30%+.
A similar trend was seen across space stocks, including BlackSky, Planet, Intuitive Machines, Firefly, and AST SpaceMobile, as the SpaceX IPO and general space hype take a breather.
SpaceX should be able to clear $100B in revenue by 2028, particularly when you consider the company is to reach $60B of annualized revenue by the end of this year (more on that later).
Planet Labs reported strong 42% YoY Q1 revenue growth last week.
Eighteen months ago, something strange happened in the space industry: everywhere you looked, satellite bus manufacturers (new, old, pivoted, or expanded into) started raising capital at astronomical levels and valuations.
