Unlocking Space for Investment: Programme overview
Updated 3 April 2025
1. UK Innovation and Science Seed Fund (UKI2S)
Are you a business operating in the space sector, looking to raise pre-seed and seed funds? The UK Space agency UKI2S Space Portfolio may be for you.
UKI2S supports pre-seed and seed companies who can deliver substantial benefits for humanity, from space. With investments ranging from 拢100,000 to 拢500,000, the funding aims to address the critical funding gap early-stage space companies face.
UKI2S is active in building companies, playing a hands-on role in finessing the business case, building the team and hiring team members, supporting negotiations around IP, navigating the funding landscape, and establishing best practice in newly founded companies.
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2. USI鈥疦别迟飞辞谤办
翱耻谤听USI聽Network is aimed at building a 鈥榮pace investment community鈥� and we want you to join us!
2.1听奥丑补迟鈥檚 on offer?
罢丑别听USI聽Business Newsletter is a quarterly newsletter which aims to include content such as programme updates, alerts about upcoming events, investor spotlights, case studies and the latest space finance and investment news that could benefit your business.
罢丑别听USI聽Investor Update is a bi-monthly update where you will find business spotlights, fundraising success stories and details of other support programmes and upcoming events.
Our goal is to keep you well informed and connected with the UK Space Agency and our investment activity, ensuring you receive the insights needed to support your space investment journey.
Please email USI@ukspaceagency.gov.uk if you have any questions, feedback or suggestions on useful content.
3.听叠耻蝉颈苍别蝉蝉 and Investor Pathway
The Business and Investor Pathway sought to increase private investor awareness and understanding of investment opportunities across the space economy through the delivery of two pathways.
Each pathway offered tailored support to successful applicants, including learning content, masterclasses, networking and pitching opportunities. The programme overall sought to create long-term, meaningful partnerships between the UK Space Agency, investors and companies.
Both pathways ran in parallel, and the programme culminated in a pitch day, where the training companies from the Business Pathway pitched to the investment community at large.
3.1听叠耻蝉颈苍别蝉蝉 Pathway overview
The Business Pathway offered tailored content and focused interventions to support space sector businesses to get investor ready, helping to bridge the valley of death in reaching the growth stage (Series A+). We aimed to:
- demystify the world of institutional investment through an understanding of the different types of investor and what they care about
- give the opportunity to get hands on with commercial and financial investment advisers from early-stage through to late-stage transactions, helping to frame your investment opportunity and addressable market size
- provide appropriate materials, skills and coaching to generate the right investment content to support due diligence and the investor engagement process
- offer experience pitching to investors, allowing valuable feedback to be shared to support you along your investment process
If you would like any further information or have any questions or feedback, please contact the team by email at聽USI@ukspaceagency.gov.uk.
3.2听滨苍惫别蝉迟辞谤 Pathway overview
The Investor Pathway programme was dedicated to supporting private investors seeking to capitalise on the developing UK space sector and leverage existing government investment. The programme aimed to encourage investment in the sector by sharing knowledge and empowering investors, particularly those considering their first venture into space investment.
The Investor Pathway granted investors access to:
- knowledge sharing: a 7-week flexible online course tailored for investors moving into the space sector
- pitch day: invitation to an exclusive pitch day hosted by the UK Space Agency, in coordination with the parallel pathway for space businesses
- community: exclusive access to deal-flow backed by UK Space Agency investment, invitation to industry events and opportunities to form investment partnerships with pathway members and the UK Space Agency
3.3.听厂辫补肠别 Investment Pitch Day
On the 18 March 2025, innovative UK Space Businesses from the 2024/25 Business Pathway Cohort pitched for their next investment round.聽
The event offered a fantastic opportunity for these promising UK space businesses to showcase their cutting-edge solutions and the impact they鈥檙e driving within the space industry and beyond.聽聽
4.听厂辫补肠别 Investment Day
Hosted by the UK Space Agency as part of the Unlocking Space for Investment programme, the Space Investment Day offer new perspectives and dynamic discussions on the trends, opportunities and critical technologies shaping the UK space industry. The event brought together the finance community, UK Space Agency and government officials to explore the benefits of investing in this rapidly evolving sector.聽
From insightful keynotes and engaging panel discussions to a fantastic exhibition, the day explored why now is the time to invest in the UK space sector.
4.1听碍别测 takeaways from the day:
The UK鈥檚 competitive advantage
Dr Paul Bate, CEO of the UK Space Agency, highlighted the UK鈥檚 strengths in the global space economy. Supported by a legacy of innovation and a thriving ecosystem of 1,765 space companies, the UK is positioned as a global space hub. With 拢8.85 billion in government support and strong global partnerships, the UK leads in small satellites, earth observation, and commercial innovation
The value of space across verticals
In the 鈥淣ew Markets, New Perspectives鈥� panel, chaired by Stephanie Ayres from UK Space, industry leaders Anthony Baker (SatelliteVu), Jodi Bartin (Citicourt & Co), Rory Holmes (ClearSpace), and Valentine Boissinot (Aalyria) discussed how space technology is unlocking new opportunities across sectors. From agriculture to healthcare and finance, space is a catalyst for innovation and economic growth, contributing 拢364 billion to the UK economy each year.
Why now is the time to invest
Rob Desborough from Seraphim highlighted how space technology is outpacing general venture capital investments and shared exciting predictions for 2025. He shared that while the UK ranks 4th globally in space investment and 3rd in the number of deals, it stands at 17th in average deal size鈥攕ignalling a significant opportunity for investors to tap into the sector鈥檚 growing potential.
In the investor panel, chaired by Shruti Iyengar (Future Planet Capital), David Ford (Silverpeak), JD Engelhart (IQT), Rubina Singh (Foresight) and Trisha Saxena (NATO Innovation Fund) discussed why space is a unique and strategic investment opportunity and debunked some space investment myths.
Our call to action
- Space is no longer an aspirational frontier鈥攊t is an investable market today.
- Collaboration between space innovators, government, and the finance community is essential.
- Join the UK Space Agency鈥檚 鈥楿nlocking Space for Investment鈥� network.