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Space funding hits $67.7B as satellites set a new high
Space investment reached a record $67.7 billion in the first half of 2026. Satellite companies alone raised $8.1 billion, already above any prior full-year total.
Image: iXBT
Investment in space companies climbed to a record $67.7 billion in the first half of 2026, according to Space Capital, beating the total for all of 2025. Within that, satellite companies raised $8.1 billion in the first six months of the year — already higher than any previous full-year result tracked by the firm.
The biggest satellite deal was a $1.2 billion Series F round for Finnish company Iceye. The radar satellite operator plans to use the money to expand spacecraft production amid strong demand, including from NATO countries.
The largest share of funding went to infrastructure, the category Space Capital uses for the development, manufacturing, launch, and operation of spacecraft. In the quarter, companies in that segment pulled in a record $20.7 billion. More than half came from a $12 billion Series B round for Prometheus, the startup founded by Jeff Bezos. The company is building artificial intelligence models to automate engineering design and manufacturing.
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Space Capital also created a new category called Launch+ for companies that work on launches while also expanding into other space businesses. The report points to Blue Origin, which is considering orbital data centers alongside rockets as a potential answer to the shortage of computing capacity for AI on Earth.
The report separately highlights SpaceX’s IPO in June. Space Capital estimates the offering raised $85.7 billion at a market valuation of about $1.8 trillion, making it the biggest venture-backed public listing event. In total, investor exits from space companies reached $90.4 billion in the second quarter, including the May IPO of HawkEye 360.
Even so, the path from early funding to maturity remains difficult. Of 722 infrastructure space companies that received seed funding since 2009, only 19 made it to a Series E round. Space Capital says the main capital bottleneck has now shifted from the post-Series C stage to the jump between Series D and Series E, as more companies reach late-stage development.
Frontier Editor
Dan is our resident futurist, covering electric mobility, space exploration, and the smart home. He's interested in atoms just as much as bits. Whether it's a new battery chemistry, a reusable rocket, or a protocol that finally makes IoT devices talk to each other, Dan breaks down the engineering that pushes humanity forward.
via iXBT
