The UK Space Agency has made £8m available to back early-stage space tech companies via the UK Innovation and Science Seed Fund (UKI2S).
As part of the government’s decade-long plan to advance the UK space industry, the national space agency has earmarked funding for a space tech portfolio backed by UKI2S, a fund managed by VC firm Future Planet Capital.
The space portfolio will invest between £100,000 and £500,000 into high-potential startups to support the delivery of the National Space Strategy.
“This government is on the side of innovators and risk-takers in fast-changing domains like space,” said Andrew Griffith, the minister for science, research and innovation.
“The purpose of today’s new space investment fund is to ensure we capitalise on the potential of home-grown talent, offering backing to get them onto the global space market and reaping the rewards for our economy.”
The government has highlighted the space economy as an area of high growth potential. However, because of the high-risk and slow-reward nature of the sector, investments have been scarce.
“Seed investment for early-stage space companies is critical to the economic growth of our space industry and its role in the global sector,” said Dr Barbara Ghinelli, director at Harwell Campus.
“We are delighted to see this progress and we look forward to further supporting the founders and companies as they progress from early-stage through to scaleup – continuing to enhance our next generation cluster pipeline across the UK driving opportunity and innovation every step of the way.”
The UK Space Agency announced the launch of its new Harwell Campus headquarters in March.
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