Britain is ‘still a player’ in space race despite failed Cornwall satellite launch,

Britain continues to ‘punch above its weight’ despite last month’s failed satellite launch from Cornwall, the boss of a major space investment fund said yesterday. 

Mark Boggett, chief executive of London-listed Seraphim Space, said the UK remains a global leader, attracting more investment in space projects than any other country apart from China and the US. 

And he said that while the failed Virgin Orbit satellite launch from Cornwall last month was a ‘slight setback’ for the industry, he believed there was still ‘significant dry power’ when it comes to investment. 

 Founded in 2016, Seraphim says it invests ‘in the brightest minds and smartest ideas’ across the space industry. 

It has 75 space tech companies in its portfolio, including quantum computing company Arqit Quantum, which itself went public in the US in 2021. 

In its latest report on the health of the industry, Seraphim said the number of start-ups attracting investment was 50 per cent higher in the final three months of 2022 than in the same period a year earlier. 

It said this showed ‘strong interest from entrepreneurs and investors in founding new space companies in 2022’. 

But Seraphim said there was less investment in larger ‘growth’ firms, with the value of deals falling 34 per cent to £999million. 

The space industry supports nearly 50,000 jobs in the UK. It generated £16.4billion of income in 2020, a third of which goes to export.