Hugh Lam
π€ SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
I say that because right now it's already happening, so it's not blue sky.
But as those 10 years evolve, the need for unique proprietary data sets from those satellites will only rise from here because...
As we know, as data commoditizes, you can't really leverage that off to make money effectively.
And so companies that really sit high in that value chain, such as Planet Labs, they're going to be doing quite well.
And the data as a service or software within space is a pretty nascent field.
There are only a few companies operating within that ecosystem.
But as, again, all of these tailwinds are allowing us to launch more into orbit,
then that's going to give the green light effectively for more companies to enter within that data space.
So there's a bit of research done by Goldman Sachs where they forecast services within space to make up around sort of 60% of LEO satellite revenue.
Launch services will dwindle over time, but that's as a proportion.
Overall, the industry will continue to grow, but proportionally services are going to outpace things like launch services.
Yeah, I think my take would be at the end of the day, investing is all about unit economics.
It's all about can the unit economics speak to investors for them to invest into that particular company or that theme.
Frankly, most companies within the space sector are unprofitable.
It makes sense.
It's still capital intensive.
It's a fairly nascent industry.
There are still some profitable companies like Planet Labs.
Again, they have gross margins between 55%, 60%.
The positive thing is that revenues are really accelerating.