Byte # 50: Follow the Money…to the Moon

Dear Readers,

A few days ago, I came across an idea in a space industry article that stayed with me:

the future of space is increasingly commercial, with private companies playing a central role in building a lunar presence and expanding economic activity in low Earth orbit and beyond -backed by an ambitious goal to attract over $50 billion of investment into the sector by 2028.

That one sentence tells you everything about where we might be headed.

Space is no longer just about governments planting flags. It’s becoming an economic layer - one where private capital, infrastructure, and competition are starting to matter just as much as science.

And when that happens, one simple investing rule kicks in: follow the money.

What’s interesting is to see how Hyperscalers are invested?

The hyperscalers - the large scale cloud service providers as we know it - have been quietly positioning themselves for what comes next.

Alphabet Inc. has taken an early-leader approach, placing smart bets rather than building everything in-house. Its stakes in SpaceX, AST SpaceMobile, and Planet Labs aren’t random - they’re pieces of future space infrastructure.

Amazon, on the other hand, is building its own network through Project Kuiper while also making bold acquisition moves like Globalstar. It’s a familiar playbook: control the rails, then scale.

Apple is taking a different route - less visible, but very strategic. Instead of owning the network, it’s securing access. Its investments and prepayments into satellite connectivity are already showing up in features like Emergency SOS.

Meta Platforms is even thinking beyond communication - exploring space-based solar power to support its AI ambitions. It sounds futuristic, but so did cloud computing once.

Meanwhile, Microsoft and Nvidia are doing what they do best: enabling the ecosystem. Cloud in space, AI at the edge, chips that power orbital computing - they’re quietly becoming the backbone.

And then there’s SpaceX - which is no stranger to the stratosphere, and neither is its coming IPO. This company has been by far the most successful commercializer of Space and is commanding 80-90% of the market share. The valuation of this company is huge at ~$2T while they only want to raise $75B.

Its IPO is poised to serve as a major inflection point - reinforcing SpaceTech’s legitimacy as a mainstream asset class, while also paving a more defined and credible path for a growing wave of late-stage SpaceTech companies to access public markets.

So what’s the bigger picture?

Space is the new foundational layer for the global economy. Whether you’re chasing national defense or AI-driven data dominance, you can’t win the future without controlling the high ground of orbit.

That brings us to the practical question - how do you position yourself without losing your footing in the hype.

Because while the opportunity is real, so is the volatility. Many of these companies are still early, capital-intensive, and not yet consistently profitable. This is not a straight line.

But a few names are worth watching as this story unfolds.

Rocket Lab Corp. (RKLB)

Rocket Lab launches satellites into space on rockets that can successfully land themselves. The company performs this service on behalf of private and public sector organizations. These satellites are critical for Wi-Fi, telecom, the defense industry, environmental monitoring and other applications.

The company has been delivering strong top-line growth, with revenue scaling meaningfully over the past few years and a backlog that continues to expand, signaling sustained demand from both government and commercial customers. That said, the key question now shifts from can they grow to can they generate consistent profitability and cash flow - because in this market, investors are becoming less forgiving of “growth at any cost.”

AST SpaceMobile Inc. (ASTS)

AST SpaceMobile is going after one of the boldest ideas in this space - a true “cell tower in the sky.” The ambition here is massive: deliver 4G and 5G connectivity directly from space to standard mobile phones, eliminating the need for ground infrastructure in many parts of the world. After years of development, the company has started generating revenue, which is an important milestone, but still very early relative to the scale of its vision. It’s one of those ideas that, if executed well, could fundamentally reshape global connectivity - but it also sits firmly in the high-risk, high-reward category.

Planet Labs PBC (PL)

Planet Labs engages in the design, construction, and launch of constellations of satellites with the intent of providing high-cadence geospatial data delivered to customers through an online platform in the United States and internationally. In other words, it is the go-to fabrication partner for specialized constellations and also positioning itself as a geospatial data and analytics platform.

An interesting angle here - Alphabet Inc. is already an investor in both AST SpaceMobile and Planet Labs. So even if you’re not picking individual space stocks, owning Google gives you indirect participation in this ecosystem.

Intuitive Machines Inc. (LUNR)

Intuitive Machines is a "delivery and infrastructure" company for the Moon. Its role is less about exploration and more about enablement - helping transport payloads, deploy equipment, and build the early infrastructure needed for sustained lunar activity. You can think of it as a logistics and services layer for future Moon missions. The company has been making strategic acquisitions to turn itself into a leading space company that can transport cargo, instruments and satellites to the moon's surface.

STMicroelectronics NV (STM)

STM designs, develops, manufactures, and sells semiconductor products in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, and the Asia Pacific. It offers a very different way to participate in the theme. Instead of betting on a single space company, it sits deeper in the supply chain - designing and manufacturing the semiconductor components that power satellites and related hardware. Its relationship with SpaceX, particularly through Starlink, highlights how it can benefit as satellite deployments scale. Add to that its collaboration with Nvidia in areas like robotics and AI, and you start to see how it bridges multiple high-growth ecosystems.

Procure Space ETF (UFO)

If picking individual winners in a space this early feels a bit like guesswork, the Procure Space ETF offers a more balanced way to participate. The ETF focuses on pure-play space companies, giving you exposure across launches, satellites, and the broader infrastructure layer - essentially capturing the ecosystem rather than betting on a single outcome. In that sense, it tries to deliver diversification beyond what traditional, “earthbound” portfolios can offer.

Performance-wise, the momentum has been hard to ignore. The fund is up about 26.1% year-to-date as of April 27, 2026, and has more than doubled over the past year. Of course, that kind of return comes with trade-offs...it carries a 0.75% expense ratio, which is on the higher side, but arguably reflects the niche exposure it provides. The ETF currently manages around $361 million in assets and has a relatively high turnover rate of 51%, highlighting how actively the portfolio evolves as the space landscape itself changes.

Stepping back, this isn’t just a thematic play anymore...it’s increasingly tied to national priorities. The launch-and-satellite ecosystem is becoming strategically important, and many of the companies involved could find themselves linked to initiatives like Golden Dome missile defense initiative. Holding UFO, in that context, is less about any one company and more about owning a diversified basket of businesses building the infrastructure behind the next layer of the global economy.

That’s it for today my friends.

I really enjoyed writing this one…not just because it’s a new theme, but because the process itself brought more clarity to how I would approach this as an investment strategy in my own portfolio.

As always, this isn’t a recommendation to buy or sell…it’s about bringing you new investment ideas and sharing how to think through them.

Keep investing smarter…

Cheers,

Pooja