[Excerpt] Since its beginnings, the Chinese space industry has been largely dominated by major state-owned enterprises (SOEs), namely China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) and to a lesser extent, China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC).
However, since 2014, the industry has opened to a greater degree of private investment, and in 2018, about 30 companies obtained 3.6 billion yuan ($509 million) in funding, including 1.4 billion yuan ($198 million) invested in commercial launch companies. In 2019, total investment dropped to 1.1 billion yuan ($156 million), of which about half was invested in commercial launch companies. Most recent fund-raising examples include Landspace with 500 million yuan ($71 million) and Galactic Energy with a pre-Series A funding round of 150 million yuan ($21 million). According to data in Euroconsult’s upcoming “China Space Industry Report 2020,” the launch service provider market has attracted more private funding than any other verticals during the past few years, with total funding raised exceeding $710 million.
