Seraphim Space to raise £350M to plough into booming industry
The world’s first listed space technology fund has outlined plans to raise up to £350million from investors looking to cash in on the booming industry.Seraphim Space said the fundraising, one of the biggest ever by a UK investment trust, comes at ‘a critical inflection point’ for the space tech market.Hailing ‘highly attractive investment opportunities’ across the sector, it said ‘there are few parts of the global economy that will be unaffected by space’ in the future.‘Space tech’s accelerating growth is being driven by global security concerns, desire for climate sustainability and the search for the next generation of infrastructure for telecoms and AI,’ it said.Seraphim shares fell 10 per cent to 200p but are still up nearly 60 per cent this year and have doubled since listing in London at 100p each in 2021. Seraphim Space invests in pioneering space technology companiesThe company has backed 45 space tech firms since its launch, nine of which are now so-called ‘unicorns’ with values over $1billion (£730million) while a further five have floated on the stock market and one has been sold.Seraphim does not have a stake in Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which is planning the world’s largest stock market listing this summer with a value of well over £1trillion.But it noted SpaceX’s ‘repeated demonstration of reusable launch systems’ which ‘has materially lowered barriers to entry across the sector’.And it said speculation over the stock market float of SpaceX ‘has sharpened investor focus on the scarcity of listed exposure to scaled space assets’.‘The commercial space sector has moved from a long‑duration, capex‑heavy theme to a revenue‑generating infrastructure story, driven by sharply falling launch costs, proliferation of satellites, and growing end‑market demand from defence, climate, telecoms and data analytics,’ it said.‘Launch economics continue to reset expectations. Demand signals are becoming more visible. Governments are increasing defence‑related space spending, enterprises are embedding satellite‑derived data into core operations, and institutional investors are seeking differentiated, hard‑asset‑backed growth themes at a time when traditional tech valuations remain volatile.‘Against that backdrop, Seraphim stands out as one of the only pure‑play listed vehicles globally offering diversified exposure across space data, communications, and earth observation — a segment of the market still largely absent from public equity indices.’Joachim Klement, head of strategy at Panmure Liberum, said: 'The company is one of the star performers in the alternative closed-end fund space and in our view has a bright future with a long growth trajectory in one of the most exciting areas for venture capital at the moment.'AJ BellAJ BellEasy investing and ready-made portfoliosHargreaves LansdownHargreaves LansdownFree fund dealing and investment ideasinteractive investorinteractive investorFlat-fee investing from £4.99 per monthFreetradeFreetradeInvesting Isa now free on basic planTrading 212Trading 212Free share dealing and no account feeAffiliate links: If you take out a product This is Money may earn a commission. These deals are chosen by our editorial team, as we think they are worth highlighting. This does not affect our editorial independence.Compare the best investing account for you
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Seraphim Space to raise £350M to plough into booming industry
