2024-02-08 14:06:56
February 8, 2024
About 105 start-up companies in the space sector operate in Israel, which raised more than 300 million dollars this year. “The field of space is not just ‘spaceships’. There is a huge business potential here and an opportunity for Israeli transport”
Today, there are 105 startups operating in Israel in the field of space applications, which raised 314 million dollars in the past year, according to the mapping of startups prepared by the Earth & Beyond Ventures Foundation and Deloitte Israel. Despite the increase in the number of startups, Israel is still at an initial stage in the space industry. Unlike other territories, foreign development centers of space giants such as SpaceX, Blue Origin, TE Connectivity, Axiom Space and Sierra Space do not operate in Israel. The stage in which the Israeli industry is reminiscent of the auto-tech industry before the turning point of the Mobileye deal in 2017, which led to the opening of development centers in Israel for the world’s largest car brands, in addition to professional delegations that come to Israel to locate innovation and technologies.
The report’s editors explain that today, “most companies in the space field from Israel are located close to the customer in the industry’s value chain. They ride on the infrastructures of the big companies that manufacture missiles, launchers and satellites, in order to offer the customer a service based and dependent on these infrastructures. Therefore, in the foreseeable future it is expected that the type of companies that will grow in Israel’s space industry will be those that develop technologies and components based on traditional space infrastructures, and not those that develop the infrastructures themselves.”
The mapping in the report includes a division of the startups according to the space applications to which they belong according to eight categories, including “Earth observation” which makes up 26% of all startups. Enterprises operating in the category use satellite imagery and sensors to collect and analyze Earth’s data for scientific, environmental and commercial purposes. “Communication and navigation” (25%): technologies and systems used by satellites and spacecraft to transmit data, information and signals, in addition to determining location and guiding traffic.
The map of start-ups in the field of space
“Space infrastructure” (20%): the physical systems and technologies, facilities, and components necessary for space exploration and commercial activity in space. “Activity in space” (10%): activities conducted in a space environment, including services, assembly and maintenance of satellites, in addition to experiments and scientific research. “Computing and software” (6%): the systems, hardware and software used to process, manage and store mission and space research data. “Space services” (5%): commercial and government services provided in space and to support exploration and trade activities. “Manufacturing in space” (4%): production and development of various goods, materials, and equipment made in space. “Space exploration and resources” (4%) space technologies for finding resources and exploiting resources on planets, moons and asteroids, in addition to technologies for space exploration and learning.
Since the companies operating in the field of space have a dual use, that the technology of those startups is also used by industries on Earth, the report also divided the companies according to the type of traditional industry in which the startups operate on Earth. In the division into the categories of “smart transportation” which is 17% of all startups, aerospace (16%), energy and climate (12%), agriculture (11%), communication (10%), health (10%), Industry 4.0 (7%) ), computing and infrastructure (5%), insurance (4%), military and security (4%), food (2%), cyber (2%).
The combination between space applications and industries on Earth shows versatility, how the same startup’s technology allows, for example, to analyze satellite photographs to serve industries such as agriculture, climate and insurance. Conducting medical experiments in space accelerates research in the field of health, satellite communication helps to develop smart transportation infrastructures, while the production of food substitutes for space missions can be used by the food industry on Earth.
The average amount that Israeli startups in the space field raise at different fundraising stages is 3.8 million shekels in the seed stage, 10.7 million in stage A, 21 million in stage B, and 76 million dollars in stages C and above. A general acceleration in recruitment to the rapidly growing field of space technologies is expected, which will also affect Israel as a result of the rise of the entire industry.
It is estimated that the traditional space industry is expected to reach a trillion dollar value by the end of the decade due to several factors, including a significant drop in the cost of launches that makes the industry accessible to more companies, in addition to smaller types of satellites that fly in a lower orbit and improve the cost-effectiveness. The industry is also affected by the entry of global players such as SpaceX, Blue Origin and traditional companies that copy their activities to the space sector, for example Amazon that offers AWS cloud services to companies in the space sector. In the same way, other giant companies such as Honda Motor or T-Mobile are taking their steps into the field, this creates for startups new business opportunities for collaborations and commercial agreements.
Nega Yaari, VP of Ecosystem Development at the Earth & Beyond Ventures Fund: “The presence of startups targeting the space market is currently low compared to our share of global high-tech. The key to change is the understanding that space is not just ‘spaceships’, but a potential market for a variety of technologies developed for traditional industries on Earth. There is huge business potential here and an opportunity for Israel to lead in innovation in the field, with hundreds of deeptech startups relevant to the industry but not yet operating in it.”
Idan Adler, Director of Deloitte Israel’s Development and Innovation Center: “The entry of private companies into the space industry, combined with ongoing investments by the public sector, opens the door to unprecedented possibilities for ventures that were not relevant until now. In our view, space has the potential to become a new business dimension for Existing ventures from various sectors, and it may give Israeli companies a significant competitive advantage.”
[קרדיט צילומים: אלמוג סוגבקר, שירז גרינבאום.]
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