Insights
Two minutes with… Raphael Roettgen
Raphael Roettgen is a space expert. A lecturer and alumnus of the International Space University, author, podcaster and venture capitalist, Raphael’s
firm, E2MC Ventures, focuses on space businesses.
We caught up with him as he presented to guests at a webinar last week, part of the Stonehage Fleming Direct series, hosted by Richard Hill.
Space is a deep tech industry and as such can be compared to biotech. As with biotech, many outsource space investment to specialist investors to get them their exposure to the sector, due to the deep technical expertise and sector-specific network required to source, evaluate and execute on investments.
Space is not all about launching rockets or satellite constellations. These are capital intensive and time to exit can be relatively long. However, there is a wide range of space-related business models out there, including satellite data analysis for sectors such as insurance, agriculture, national security, metals and mining, oil and gas, among others. The potential here is huge as many non-space sector companies have yet to realise yet how they can use space technology.
Earth observation is critical to monitoring climate change. Studying the impact of wild fires or deforestation from space opens up huge possibilities for managing and combatting the risks.
In-space manufacturing is a very interesting area. If you can manufacture things in space, under microgravity conditions, like advanced semiconductors or organoids for clinical testing some significant markets open up for investors. These are areas that don’t attract the crowds at the moment because they often require “deep tech” experience which very few generalist investors have.
The Overview Effect is real – space alters you. As well as the more technical impacts of access to space, there are intangible impacts to consider. Pretty much every astronaut who went up to space tells us the same: if you view the earth from space something changes inside you. You see the borders, you see the entire planet and you almost instantly become an environmentalist.
Raphael Roettgen is Founder and Managing Partner at E2CM Ventures.