Following participation in a UK Space Agency-backed business development program, space start-ups raised over £9 million in investment and created 80 new employment.
The UK Space Agency
The Space Accelerator impact report for 2022 was published on August 9, 2022. Entrepreneurial Spark is to blame.
Impact report on the Space Accelerator. Entrepreneurial Spark is to blame.
Following participation in a UK Space Agency-backed business development program, space start-ups raised over £9 million in investment and created 80 new employment.
Entrepreneurial Spark provided the UK Space Agency Space Accelerator Programme, which worked with entrepreneurs aged 18-70 from all around the UK with business skills in industries such as aerospace, law, quantum technology, farming, environmental engineering, and healthcare.
The Accelerator, which was delivered via a series of virtual events hosted by a variety of industry professionals, intended to break down perceived hurdles faced by under-represented company owners and create talks about the potential that space may bring.
According to Harshbir Sangha, Director of Growth at the UK Space Agency:
I’d like to congratulate everyone who finished our Space Accelerator successfully. With the correct assistance, the UK has a strong entrepreneurial culture and a burgeoning space industry, and there are enormous prospects for new space enterprises to start up and prosper.
The Space Accelerator exemplifies the value we aspire to contribute as an agency: catalyzing investment, providing space capabilities, and advocating space. We aim to accelerate the development of space start-ups and generate thousands of new jobs throughout the UK, with historic levels of investment streaming into the industry.
Participants included entrepreneurs, established firms in their early phases, and experts from adjacent industries who may benefit from space knowledge, resulting in a large and diversified network of multi-skilled space pioneers.
The UK Space Agency granted the Accelerator £360,000 over two fiscal years. This prompted a total investment of £8.79 million from other grants and investors, resulting in the creation of 80 new employment and the direct assistance of 88 individual enterprises between January 2020 and April 2022.
Participants have reported increased company turnover and customer numbers after entering the program, as well as increased confidence in their own leadership abilities, strategy planning, business models, and collaborations.
ODIN Space Ltd Co-Founder and CEO James New stated:
Our most significant accomplishment throughout the accelerator was raising our first round of funding. We raised £430,000, which has significantly accelerated our growth.
The assistance provided by the UK Space Agency, Entrepreneurial Spark, and the delivery partners allowed us to fine-tune our business model and gain confidence when presenting to investors. It seemed as though we were a part of a massive industrial effort to create new space enterprises.
ODIN Space is now ready for launch and will begin defending space assets from orbital debris.
The expanding UK space industry is now worth £16.5 billion to the economy and employs around 47,000 people from throughout the country, giving a significant potential for a variety of firms. The first satellite launches from the UK, scheduled for later this year, will also assist to stimulate development in the industry and strengthen the UK’s position as a global space community leader.
Airbus, Astroscale, the European Space Agency, the Department for International Trade, STFC RAL Space, and others collaborated on the Space Accelerator Programme. Entrepreneurial Spark provides participants with one-on-one coaching, specializing in creating entrepreneurial attitudes in technically minded entrepreneurs. Alden Legal conducted a series of regulatory and access to financing training, while AstroAgency led market prioritisation and competition analysis workshops, as well as one-on-one meetings with participants. Grey Consultants gave open access business horizons tech presentations to engage audiences from all around the UK who were new to space.
The UK Space Agency is currently seeking a partner to develop and implement the second phase of the space accelerator, which will operate through March 2025. This will entail offering a tailored package of targeted assistance to space enterprises at various stages of growth, as well as giving program participants with the information and skills they need to flourish, regardless of where they are located in the UK.
Entrepreneurial Spark is an impact-driven entrepreneur accelerator. With over a decade of worldwide experience hosting 22 accelerators, it has assisted over 5,000 innovators in starting, growing, and scaling their companies. Entrepreneurial Spark team members are people specialists that specialize in assisting entrepreneurs in overcoming psychological hurdles to development while developing excellent enterprises.