Airline Venture Capital – Q3 2025 Investment Update
The aerospace startup ecosystem is rebounding in 2024-2025 after a volatile few years. The COVID-era venture capital boom peaked in 2021 – a record ~$15 billion was invested in space-related startups globally that year1. This frenzy was fueled by public market enthusiasm, including numerous SPAC deals and mega-rounds, which nearly doubled the prior record from 2020 1. However, as macroeconomic conditions tightened in 2022 (with rising interest rates and recession fears), venture funding across industries pulled back sharply2. Space investment mirrored this trend: total financing of space startups fell ~46% from the 2021 peak to about $8 billion in 20222. Despite the downturn, 2022’s volume – spread over 154 deals – was still slightly above pre-2021 levels, indicating the sector’s longer-term growth trajectory2.