Just like market reports, reliable business statistics are hard to come by. Somewhere between 0.00006% and 2.5% of companies reach the billion-dollar milestone. There’s an order of magnitude or two between those two numbers, but the message is clear nonetheless: The odds of becoming a billion-dollar success are pretty darn high. Of course, there are […]
Kids who want to be astronauts epitomize the primal desire we all have to discover the unknown. Now that our small planet can be explored by generally anyone with resources, space is truly the final frontier. Investors seem to find the NewSpace thesis particularly alluring because it’s filled with excitement and exploration of the unknown. […]
The number of companies going public is becoming overwhelming. We largely cover U.S. initial public offerings, and 30% of them this year (measured by proceeds) have been special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs). But here’s the really interesting metric. If the data provided by StockAnalysis.com is to be believed, there have been 991 IPOs on the […]
Just when you thought it was safe to go back into space, there’s been another SPAC attack. NewSpace company Terran Orbital just announced plans to go public by merging with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). We had finally finished slogging through a dozen shiny investor decks, starting two years ago with space tourism company […]
A funny thing happened on the way to the public markets: A startup waiting to finalize a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) made extensive financial disclosures before sealing the deal. Rocket Lab, a leading space rocket company primarily serving the small satellite market, released a 700-plus-page document that spelled out the risks […]
Earlier this month, we broke down the upcoming public offering from Rocket Lab, which is really the only private space company other than SpaceX that is consistently conducting commercial launches. They also share one other key element – both companies believe reusable rockets represent the future of the commercial launch industry. And they’re not alone. […]
If at first you don’t succeed, try again. That’s not just the motto of drunk blokes trying to pick up women at She Soho in an attempt to pull off Gareth Keenan’s ultimate fantasy. It’s also the words by which most entrepreneurs live by, especially if their ultimate fantasy involves building a communications network in […]
“I’m sorry, Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that.” That’s probably one of the most chilling lines of any sci-fi AI villain. HAL, the sentient computer that runs the ship in 2001: A Space Odyssey, has decided that humans are superfluous to its mission. That iconic scene has influenced how we think about the role […]
There are all sorts of statistics out there about how often tech startups fail, with data research firm CB Insights saying that 70% of upstart businesses close shop in less than two years. Some industries are obviously tougher than others, like consumer hardware with a 97% death rate. We’d wager that launching a rocket or […]
News just broke that the $26 billion-plus merger between Sprint (S) and T-Mobile (TMUS) is going forward. Apparently, the federal judge in the case weighed the arguments carefully and decided that consolidation of the two telecommunications companies is good for the free market. (More likely, he already bought one of the new 5G-enabled phones and […]