Finance experts at SATELLITE 2022’s “Space Goes Public: The Experts Speak” panel discussed the state of SPACs, supply chains, and talent challenges for companies building out their business plans.
Phil Ingle of Morgan Stanley called 2021 a phenomenal year but said the sorting begins now: “I think what you will see over the next three years, the winners will be sorted out from losers. Many companies that did go public might need to re-access the finance markets for equity.” He sees three revenue tiers — launch (smallest), manufacturing/hardware (middle), and services (largest) — and expects cross-value-chain M&A: “I could see Rocket Lab getting into the services side.”
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Mike Collett of Promus Ventures said: “Execution is going to be key. You need four to six quarters of execution. Can you get capital in the public market to stay going forward? SPACs have got a horrifically bad rap. The market will give premium to those companies growing 100 percent plus a year.”
Mark Boggett of Seraphim Capital noted that defense-focused space companies are booming post-Ukraine: “Half of our portfolio companies are selling to the defense and government market. A number of companies have hit their annual budgets already.” He cautioned: “A number of space SPACs will need to come back to the market. There are only two companies that are trading beyond their merger price.”
Michael Mealling of Starbridge Venture Capital highlighted talent shortages: “There are 200,000 jobs in aerospace that aren’t being filled. Attracting talent is critical.” He also noted Ukraine’s aerospace engineering talent and supply chain exposure: “There are launch components that come out of Ukraine.”
Laurence Vigeant-Langlois of AE Industrial Partners remained optimistic: “This is the golden age of space. Diversification of space means we are very keen on continuing to invest in this sector.” VS
