Type One Ventures: Investing in the space economy
Space is no longer a niche corner of the aerospace sector – it’s one of its fastest-growing sectors, as Avantika Gupta, Principal, Type One Ventures, explains.…
Space is no longer a niche corner of the aerospace sector – it’s one of its fastest-growing sectors, as Avantika Gupta, Principal, Type One Ventures, explains.
Building the railways of space
Speaking to Aerospace Global News during Farnborough International Airshow this year, Avantika Gupta explained where the biggest opportunities in space lie from an investment perspective.
“When we think about where the opportunities lie in the space industry, it helps to reflect on what was needed when we set up railway networks,” Gupta said. Applied to space, that translates into pressing questions about what is needed, what energy or space stations are needed when, for example, the International Space Station (ISS) is decommissioned. With ISS in mind, Gupta said Type One Ventures is focused on how the industry transitions from a single government-led station to a network of private and commercial ones and, further out, on what a lunar outpost will require in terms of resources, structures, energy, mobility, transport, and communications on the Moon itself.
Why in-space manufacturing matters
In-space manufacturing is going to be a critical part of the space industry moving forward, according to Gupta. “That is because space offers us an environment we cannot recreate on Earth,” she explained. “There is no gravity. There is a vacuum, a dust-free environment where you can produce ultra-fine crystal material that cannot be achieved on Earth.”
That’s already translating into real applications: semiconductor manufacturers are producing gallium- and diamond-based materials for high-value components used in communications systems, fibre optic materials are being manufactured in space for application on Earth, while pharmaceutical companies are growing protein crystals in space with structural properties that could benefit patients with diseases difficult to treat using Earth-grown alternatives.
What investors are really looking for
When it comes to backing space companies, Type One Ventures applies many of the same fundamentals used to evaluate any Earth-based business: market size, product strength, and a clear path to customers. “What makes space unique when thinking about the investment mindset,” Gupta noted, “is the extended timeline to commercial return. The industry is burgeoning but some aspects take time – satellites take years to build and launch, and proving the scalability of technologies like in-space manufacturing takes time.”
She also underlined this means investors need to stay patient and engaged well beyond the initial check, helping founders raise follow-on capital and connect with customers. This includes corporates, such as those in the automotive sector, who are increasingly recognising space as part of their value chain.
Looking ahead to the near-term future
Asked what the conversation might look like at a future Farnborough, Gupta predicted a broad shift. “It will be less about validating new technologies and more about how rapidly we can scale to deliver benefits to the most people. That big cusp of change in the industry is really about to happen where we go from proving that research to proving the scalability of the industry.”
