Musk, Bezos Eyeing Investments In UK's £16B Sector

The UK’s space sector is growing rapidly, valued at around £14.8billion a year. Sector income soared in nominal terms last year, from £16.4 billion to £16.5 billion, with exports counting for around a third of 32 percent of this total, according to the UK Space Agency.

Photo Insert: Work being conducted at the Blue Origin hangar

In 2020, the UK space sector provided 46,995 jobs, up from 44,040 in 2019, Jacob Paul reported for UK’s Daily Express.

All this helps to explain why billionaires like SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and Blue Origins boss Jeff Bezos have the UK “on their radar” as they eye up their next investments.

Sanjeev Gordhan, a general partner of US-based Venture Capital Fund Type One, said the firm will set up a $50 million fund to operate in London and invest in space and deep tech companies in Britain and Europe. Gordhan told Express.co.uk that Type One is not the only one interested in Britain.

When asked whether Musk and Bezos would join the club, he responded: “It is already on their radar. “We know it is already on their radar because there are a couple of opportunities indirectly that we are putting out to those types of individuals. They are already aware of UK opportunities.

Advanced materials are one of the things on their radar. If we are looking at more and more opportunities in different types of vehicles going into space, we need to be looking at advanced materials that can cope with the pressures or environments within space, Gordhan added.

“I know that, because of the conversations that we have had with some of their contact network, advanced materials is an area that they have looked at for the UK.”

But this is not the only area where the billionaires may get involved in. Musk has also been tipped to launch an exciting new UK project, the Space Energy Initiative.

This project could see Britain set up the first power station in space by 2035, comprising of a system of satellites that could generate limitless clean energy for Britain. But launching these heavy satellites requires substantial launch capability, meaning Britain may need some help from some of the big names.

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