Richard, great to have you with us today. So you've described the space economy as moving from speculative story to institutional investment opportunity. What do you think is driving that shift, and what are serious investors paying attention to right now?
Great question. When you look at 2020 to 2021, the SPACs created an opportunity for institutional investors to come in. As we see some of the challenges from 2022 all the way to 2025, I think this is a great market space to be in right now. We've had SpaceX go public. Where I see the great value is that it is an institutional asset, plain and simple. Some of the questions I ask investors are: what is your exposure in space, and what does that look like? There's an incredible amount of interest from the US side, and we see it across different regions of the world. Sitting here in Abu Dhabi, I think it's an exciting time.
Great, excellent. And many investors still think about space in terms of rockets and launches. What are they missing with the space economy and the opportunity it presents?
I think sometimes when we create a sci-fi version of space, it becomes very challenging. The industry is like any other — you have the infrastructure play, which is a necessity. As you build on top of those building blocks, you're going to have everything from data and AI to systems that are crucial to space. But to get there, zero to one is getting to space, and one to twenty — which I like to describe as we as a species having to be able to stay in space. So when you look at commercial space stations, those are very intriguing. Then there are the other aspects of communication, national interest, defense, weather, and even data centers coming into space.
And one theme that seems to run through many of your investments is infrastructure. What draws you to those opportunities, or what specific infrastructure are you most focused on?
So we've invested in two launch companies and two commercial space stations. Our next step forward, even as we consider allocations through our fund, is going to focus on energy sectors and communication sectors. The fund will also allocate a percentage to defense — we see a big push from the US government in terms of the Golden Dome and things related to that. Our agenda is building those building blocks that are very crucial right now. Currently the sector is a little fragmented, so nationalistic interest is important to push that forward. Now we're seeing Wall Street and institutional investors come in, which is also critical. I'm very excited to see when the retail market catches up, because space is here to stay. It's part of our future. This isn't like Apollo in 1969 and 1972, where we built because we were competing against the Russians and then stopped once we won. This is a long-term play, and I think the next ten to twenty years are going to be very exciting.
Yeah, I absolutely agree with you. And as capital becomes more global, what role do you see Abu Dhabi and the region playing in this next generation of innovative investing?
The first time I came to Abu Dhabi was last year during December, for Abu Dhabi Finance Week. There were a couple of speakers correlating certain information about the space economy. This year I was able to meet some of the representatives from the UAE Space Agency at the Space Symposium in Colorado. The question really comes down to this — outside of capital allocation and investments into the space sector from the big players, the sovereign wealth funds and the like, what's exciting for the region would be to consider opportunities in launch. Once you have launch capabilities, you have two other separated sectors: the manufacturing side and the services side. I think Abu Dhabi has a very interesting role to play. We have the American side, the Canadians, the Europeans, the Japanese — and this region, of course, has its own stake in it. One of the things I particularly like about this region is the long-term view. It's not your next three to five years — get in and get out. It's the next 50 to 100 years. I'm very impressed by that approach, and I think that's the mindset that's needed. If you're building the cornerstone infrastructure play in space, you have to think ten to twenty years ahead. When a human is eventually born in space, will that be tied solely to US technology and US individuals, or will this region be supportive in that? I do believe it will be, and not only from the UAE but from the GCC as a whole. So I think it's a great time.
Yeah, excellent. And last question — if you were allocating one billion dollars today, which future technology theme would receive the largest capital and why?
I definitely think data centers in space is something a lot of us have been discussing. From a practical perspective, a lot of money has already been allocated on Earth for that. We see great companies like StarCloud doing it — they launched their first module last year in November, and now SpaceX is in the mix too, trying to scale that. When I look at it, I try to approach it as a private equity model from top to bottom — the nuts and bolts of what's really going to be needed. Energy is a critical sector in that domain, as is communications. And then when you look at commercial space stations, I think about biotech and microgravity pharmaceutical development. I predict that in the next three to five years, we're going to see a major player emerge in that space — assuming, of course, that some of the companies currently working on it, like Space Bio, are successful in launching their modules.
Excellent. Well, it's been a pleasure having you, and I hope you come back again and tell us more about space and all the exciting opportunities. Thank you. Thank you.
