Top Highlights

• Over 283 private and public companies in 31 African countries operate in the African space industry.
• The industry employs over 44,670.
• 84% of the 283 NewSpace companies surveyed are downstream companies.
• The majority of the NewSpace companies are bootstrapping their operations.
• More NewSpace companies were founded in the last decade, across the industry segment, than in the previous five decades.

As the leading analytics and consulting company focusing on the African space and satellite industry, Space in Africa has released the NewSpace Africa Industry Report, 2021 Edition. The report was built on the previous editions to analyse the NewSpace industry across the continent, industry dynamics, trends and opportunities.

Industry Segmentation

The 283 companies operate in the industry value chain – both upstream and downstream companies. Their operations cut across component manufacturing and equipment services, earth observation and geospatial services, satellite communications services, astronomy services, among others. Most downstream companies are domiciled in Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa. The majority of the upstream companies are domiciled in South Africa. About 44% of the downstream companies surveyed are in the growth stage of their development, while 47% are in the maturity stage of their development. 

Rapid Growth of the NewSpace industry

Investors have increasingly become aware of the potential and opportunities underlying the NewSpace industry, which is evident by the funding opportunities these companies have accessed. For example, venture capitalist funds two companies; some other companies also received various types of investment such as seed funding, angel investments and so on. The majority of these investments are from outside Africa.

NewSpace Ecosystem

Some competitions, fundraisers, and challenges were organised in the past year to boost the participation and growth of the African NewSpace industry; both African and foreign organisations organised these events. Some of these are Space Techinnovation Challenge (2020), Africa4future program, Africa EO Challenge, EO Africa Research and Development, Copernicus Masters competition and IAU’s Office of Astronomy for Development (OAD).

Expansion and Opportunities

The African space industry made revenue of USD 7.37 billion in 2019 and is expected to generate over USD 10.24 billion in revenue by 2024, with growth across earth observation and geospatial services, satellite communications services, satellite navigations, and component manufacturing and equipment services. 

The 2021 edition of the NewSpace Africa Industry Report is published by Space in Africa, the authority on news, data and market analysis for the African space and satellite industry. It presents data and analyses on the NewSpace industry amongst other segments of the industry, deals, partnerships, and investments across the continent. It also analyses the growing demand for space technologies and data on the continents and the business opportunities it offers. The report comes with annual access to real-time data on every industry segment and player via the new Space in Africa Data Portal and yearly access to premium content published on the Space in Africa News Website. 

Visit www.spaceinafrica.com/reports to access the report.