The space venture capital market showed strong momentum in Q3 2025, with 727 space-related deals recorded worldwide. Investor confidence continues to recover after the 2022-2023 downturn, as funding accelerates across satellite communications, space infrastructure, robotics, and defense-aligned technologies.

Key Highlights

• Global space funding remains resilient: VC and corporate investors are focusing on scalable, revenue-producing applications rather than speculative concepts.

• Defense technology leads the charge: Over $11 billion in defense-tech funding during the first half of 2025 highlights the growing overlap between aerospace innovation and national security.

• Space infrastructure surges: Companies like Starlab raised fresh capital ($15 M, Sept 2025) to advance commercial space station development and in-orbit research.

• AI and robotics attract deep-tech investment: Neptune Robotics ($52 M Series B) exemplifies the trend toward autonomous, AI-powered maritime and aerospace systems.

• Public market activity returns: Matrix Geo Solutions and BharatRohan launched IPOs in India, signaling maturing geospatial and satellite-data businesses.

• Strategic M&A gains traction: Aerospace and defense primes continue to acquire specialized startups to strengthen technology pipelines.

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.