Guidance

Unlocking Space for Investment: Programme overview

Updated 25 March 2025

1. Business and Investor Pathway Programme

The Unlocking Space for Investment: Business and Investor Pathway programme seeks to increase private investor awareness and understanding of investment opportunities across the space economy through the delivery of two pathways.

Each pathway offers tailored support to successful applicants, including learning content, masterclasses, networking and pitching opportunities. The programme overall seeks to create long-term, meaningful partnerships between the UK Space Agency, investors and companies.

Both pathways run in parallel, and the programme will culminate in a pitch day, where the training companies from the Business Pathway are given the chance to pitch to the investment community at large.

The 2024/25 Business and Investor Pathway Programme is currently underway, following on from a successful pilot programme in 2023/24.

The Space Investment Pitch Day will take place on 18 March 2025 in London – more details included below.

Apply for the Business Pathway.

Apply for the Investor Pathway.

1.1 Business Pathway overview

The Business Pathway will offer 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 will look 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 USI@ukspaceagency.gov.uk.

1.2 Investor Pathway overview

The Investor Pathway programme is dedicated to supporting private investors seeking to capitalise on the developing UK space sector and leverage existing government investment. The programme will encourage investment in the sector by sharing knowledge and empowering investors, particularly those considering their first venture into space investment.

The Investor Pathway will grant 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

2. Space Investment Pitch Day

Join us on 18 March 2025 in central London for the Space Investment Pitch Day, where ten innovative UK Space Businesses from the 2024/25 Business Pathway Cohort will pitch for their next investment round. 

Hosted by the UK Space Agency as part of the Unlocking Space for Investment Programme, the event offers a fantastic opportunity for these promising UK space businesses to showcase their cutting-edge solutions and the impact they’re driving within the space industry and beyond.  

Event Agenda:

• 9:30: Briefing
• 10:00: Welcome Address by UK Space Agency
• 10:15: In-Conversation with PwC and Exotopic
• 10:30: Pitches (5 minutes per pitch)
• 12:00: Closing Remarks
• 12:15: Networking with Investors

Investors will have the opportunity to express interest, request formal introductions, and engage directly with the business leaders.  

The day is designed to facilitate strategic connections between businesses and investors that can lead to future collaborations and partnerships. 

If you are an investor interested in meeting exciting businesses in the space sector to add to your investment portfolio, please register to attend.

3. 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 £100,000 to £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.

Find out more about the UKI2S Space Portfolio.

4. Space 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. 

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 Key takeaways from the day:

The UK’s competitive advantage

Paul Bate, CEO of the UK Space Agency, highlighted the UK’s 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 £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 “New Markets, New Perspectives” 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 £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—signalling a significant opportunity for investors to tap into the sector’s 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—it is an investable market today.
• Collaboration between space innovators, government, and the finance community is essential.
• Join the UK Space Agency’s ‘Unlocking Space for Investment’ network.

5. USI Network

We have just launched our USI Network aimed at building a ‘space investment community’ and we want you to join us!

5.1 What’s on offer?

The USI 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.

The USI 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.

Join the USI Network by emailing your interest to USI@ukspaceagency.gov.uk.