Five years ago, investor Katelin Holloway made what she calls a “literal moon shot” investment. A founding partner of the generalist venture firm Seven Seven Six admits she and her team had “no clue” what rocket company Stoke Space was talking about when they pitched the firm on its reusable launch technology. “We knew full well we were not the specialist,” she says.
Since then, Holloway has also invested in Interlune, a company planning to harvest helium-3 from the moon and sell it back to Earth for quantum computing and medical imaging applications.
Holloway is well aware of the skepticism these bets might attract. At the same time, her journey from space novice to investor reflects a broader change in venture capital, as VCs without aerospace engineering degrees increasingly back space startups. In fact, global venture investment in space technology reached $4.5 billion across 48 companies as of July, according to PitchBook; that’s more than four times the amount that space startups attracted in 2024.
What’s driving this trend? For starters, SpaceX and other companies have substantially reduced launch costs, making space accessible to founders with applications-focused business models. “We are literally as a species sitting on the precipice of space becoming part of our day-to-day lives,” Holloway told this editor in a recent episode of TC’s StrictlyVC Download podcast. “And I truly do not think the world understands that or is ready for it.”
That has allowed VCs to look past companies that build rockets to startups that use space-based data and infrastructure for new applications like climate monitoring, intelligence gathering, and communications. They’re also betting on orbital logistics, in-space manufacturing, satellite servicing, and lunar infrastructure development. Companies like Interlune represent this new category. For investors like Holloway, the appeal often lies at the “space tech meets climate tech” intersection, meaning startups that want to avoid repeating Earth’s environmental mistakes in space.”
Geopolitical tensions are also making defense-related space startups attractive because China’s rapidly advancing space capabilities are driving increased U.S. investment. VCs can be …