DIGIVESTASI - Global space companies will receive a total investment of USD 17.9 billion by 2023, the lowest in a decade. But their popularity is rising thanks to Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos.

According to a study published by Space Capital, the amount of capital disbursed for early-stage investment (seed funding) is also at its lowest level in a decade, at only 64% or the equivalent of 256 funding rounds worldwide. This is due to a sharp decline in funding in the spatial application sector, due to a lack of interest in location-based service (LBS) applications.  

According to Space Capital, this cannot be separated from the global financial difficulties caused by the collapse of Silicon Valley, mass layoffs, and waves of layoffs. In addition, investing in space is quite a risky investment. 

Thus, in the fourth quarter of 2023, space investors will pay more attention to the space infrastructure sector. We know that 70% of funding, whether early stage, series A, B, C, or final series, goes to this sector. This funding also reached $3 billion or around Rp 46.8 trillion. It is known that the total funding in the fourth quarter of 2023 amounted to IDR 71.8 trillion. The figure also reached an all-time high after the pandemic, which Space Capital believes will boost investor confidence in 2024.

According to SpaceNews, the increase in investment is due to the number of companies expanding into space, such as Elon Musk's SpaceX, Amazon, and Jeff Bezos' Branson. "There is no doubt that the three friends Musk, Bezos and Branson really helped raise the profile of this industry and people started to think: oh, space is not just for aliens.

"You can actually make money in space," DCVC venture partner Matt O'Connell said, as quoted by SpaceNews. In addition, O'Connell said this optimism is further supported by the fact that three space companies are already planning to list their shares on the US stock exchange.

It is known that the total capital that has been disbursed since 2014 amounts to around 298 billion USD. This figure is also used for satellites worth 258.2 billion USD, launches amounting to 32.9 billion USD, and industrial industries amounting to 3.8 billion USD. The countries with the most invested companies are the United States (48%), China (27%), Singapore (5%), India (4%), France (3%), the United Kingdom (3%), Indonesia (3%) and Canada (1%).