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Week in Space Data, every Friday.
SpaceNexus quarterly space funding edition
Space funding, Q3 2026
$3.29B of private funding went into space companies in Q3 2026, across 45 closed rounds (29 with a disclosed amount). IPOs, debt, grants and other capital are counted separately below, never in the total.
$3.3B of private funding went into space companies in Q3 2026 across 45 closed rounds (29 with a disclosed amount), -3.8% vs Q2 2026; largest K2 Space $500.0M (Series D).
Source: SpaceNexus quarterly space funding edition, Q3 2026
July 1, 2026 to September 30, 2026. Frozen October 5, 2026, frozen on schedule.
$3.42B across 44 rounds, same rule, from its frozen edition (2026-09-29)
Stated but not added: Q3 2026 holds back 10 rounds stated only as a floor or an approximation, about $2.68B as stated (largest: Stoke Space, USD 1,000,000,000; Chang Guang Satellite Technology, CNY 5,000,000,000; Open Cosmos, EUR 300,000,000). Q2 2026 holds back 6 rounds stated only as a floor or an approximation, about $541.9M as stated. Neither quarter's total includes these figures, so the change between the two totals compares two floors that leave out different amounts.
Corrections
October 5, 2026: Corrected 2026-10-05 after an independent fact-check of every row. First frozen on 2026-10-05 at $14,500,175,077 across 23 rounds; now $2,900,403,465 across 44 rounds (16 with no dollar figure). Blue Origin's reported $10 billion round has not closed (its CEO to CNBC, 2026-09-30), so it is listed under Raising now and not counted. Hadrian ($1.37 billion) is recorded as a defense and industrial manufacturer, and its round announcement describes defense, aerospace and industrial work rather than space: it is listed beside the total, as Castelion and Venus Aerospace are. Open Cosmos's EUR 300 million includes a venture debt tranche of undisclosed size, and Orienspace's "several hundred million yuan" is not an exact figure: both count as rounds with no dollar figure. Neuraspace is converted at the ECB rate of its announcement day (+$9,323). 23 closed rounds the first freeze missed are added after a second independent check (11 with an exact figure, +$131,549,065; 12 with no dollar figure). Beside the total: Castelion is $800 million of equity plus a $250 million credit facility (debt), and BlackSky's $150 million of share sales took place in Q2 and moved there. Announcement dates, round labels and lead investors are corrected for Interlune (a SAFE), Space Epoch, Array Labs, Pixxel, EnduroSat, Ravee Optics and others. (replaced $14.50B across 23 rounds; now $2.90B across 44)
October 5, 2026: Corrected 2026-10-05 (second): SpaceSail's CNY 6.976 billion round, mostly from state-owned funds, is now listed beside the total as state capital; the private-funding headline is unchanged. (replaced $2.90B across 44 rounds; now $2.90B across 44)
October 7, 2026: Corrected after the October 2026 independent fact-check of private companies' funding rows (Q3 2026 rows). Antares's July 2026 Series C is added: $370 million of equity; the $100 million of debt announced with it is not added in. Chang Guang Satellite's round of nearly RMB 5 billion keeps no dollar figure (an approximation); the stated figure, its co-lead investors and the company's own announcement are recorded. Galactic Energy's July 2026 D+ round of several hundred million yuan, mostly from state investment platforms, is added as state capital with no dollar figure. Galactic Energy's Pre-IPO round of several billion yuan is added with no dollar figure: no exact amount was stated. HyImpulse's Series A extension of more than EUR 50 million keeps no dollar figure (a floor); the stated figure and its co-lead investors are recorded. Insera Solution's Series A lead investor, SV Investment, is confirmed against its source. Orbit Fab's "$20 million Series B" of March 2026 was a signed term sheet, not a closed round: the row now records the more than $25 million of interim financing led by Stride Capital that the company announced on 7 July 2026, with no dollar figure (a floor), so it moves into this quarter. Space Pioneer's July 2026 round of CNY 200 million from Hengdian Capital is added, converted at the ECB rate of 7 July 2026: $29,439,938. Rows counted in the private-funding total: Antares Industries, Chang Guang Satellite Technology, Galactic Energy, HyImpulse, Insera Solution, Orbit Fab, Space Pioneer (Tianbing Technology). Rows listed beside the total, never added in: Galactic Energy (state capital). (replaced $2.90B across 44 rounds; now $3.30B across 48)
Since this edition was frozen. The live record for Q3 2026 now reads $3.69B across 97 rounds (+52 rounds, +$400.1M): rounds reported after the freeze. They are on the live tracker; this edition does not change.
How our Q3 2026 number compares
Each tracker's own published figure, linked
Space funding totals for the same period differ because trackers count different things. Each figure below was read on its source; a tracker that has not published the period says so. Where a tracker published a different window (a half-year), it is compared with our figure for that same window. Why space funding totals differ, definition by definition.
Our Q3 2026 space funding figure beside the figures other trackers published
Tracker
Figure
Window
Published
Theirs divided by ours (same window)
What it counts differently
SpaceNexus (this edition)
$3.29B
Q3 2026
2026-10-05
n/a
Closed private rounds into space companies only, from our own records. No IPOs, listed-company offerings, tender offers, debt, grants, acquisitions, rounds into companies not classed as space (such as defense companies without a space subsector), or announced raises that have not closed.
Space CapitalSpace Investment Quarterly (Space IQ)
Largest rounds, Q3 2026
SpaceNexus funding records
The largest disclosed private rounds into space companies in Q3 2026
This edition counts closed private funding rounds into space companies dated July 1, 2026 to September 30, 2026, as recorded in the SpaceNexus funding database when the edition was frozen on October 5, 2026. A round reported after the freeze is on the live tracker, not in this edition; the edition page says how many there are.
Private funding counts 45 of the 56 capital events recorded in the quarter: priced equity rounds from seed to late stage, growth and strategic rounds and bridges. A convertible note or SAFE recorded on its own counts only once it converts into a priced round; until then it is debt and is reported separately. Grants are public money, not investment, and are reported separately.
Not counted, and reported separately with their own totals: grants (labelled as grants) (1, $11.1M); private rounds and grants into companies not classed as space (defense and other cross-domain companies without a space subsector) (3, $2.26B); debt financing (3, $723.0M); state capital (government or state-owned funds) (3, $1.04B); instrument not stated (held until a source says the money is equity) (1, $0).
Each row is classified from its own recorded round type and stage label. A private placement into a listed company counts as a listed-company offering; "Pre-IPO" is a private round.
Cite this editionAPA, Chicago or BibTeX, with this page's link and dates. The page is live, so cite its as-of date
APA
SpaceNexus. (2026, October 5). Space funding, Q3 2026: Dataset [Data set]. Retrieved October 5, 2026, from https://spacenexus.us/funding-tracker/2026-q3
Chicago
SpaceNexus. "Space funding, Q3 2026: Dataset." Data as of October 5, 2026. Accessed October 5, 2026. https://spacenexus.us/funding-tracker/2026-q3.
BibTeX
@misc{spacenexus_spacefundingq32026_2026,
author = {{SpaceNexus}},
title = {{Space funding, Q3 2026}: Dataset},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
howpublished = {\url{https://spacenexus.us/funding-tracker/2026-q3}},
url = {https://spacenexus.us/funding-tracker/2026-q3},
urldate = {2026-10-05},
note = {Data as of 2026-10-05; each fact links its primary source}
}
October 7, 2026: The Q2 2026 edition was corrected on 7 October 2026; the comparison now reads the corrected figure: $3,460,599,648 across 48 rounds, was $3,344,329,319 across 46, so the change against Q2 2026 is -4.6%, was -1.3%; the sector comparisons read the corrected Q2 2026 edition too. This edition's own rounds and totals are unchanged. (the comparison with Q2 2026 replaced $3.34B across 46 rounds, -1.3%; now $3.46B across 48, -4.6%; this edition's own figures are unchanged)
October 8, 2026: Corrected after the October 2026 Research accuracy review and the full re-verification of 2026 funding rows (Q3 2026). Orbit Fab's "more than $25M in interim financing" is held out: no source states the instrument (rule 1, instrument not stated). Interlune's $5,000,000 September raise is a SAFE that has not converted, so it is debt under rule 1 and not a private round; with no company announcement it is dated to its Form D first sale, 31 August 2026. Xingyi Lianxin's A+ and A++ rounds are state capital, not private funding: both were led by government-owned investors (rule 3). The edition now reads $3,294,843,403 across 45 rounds (was $3,299,843,403 across 48). (replaced $3.30B across 48 rounds; now $3.29B across 45)
Counts private investment across the whole space economy: companies that build or operate space assets, and also companies that use space-based data, navigation and connectivity (its own examples include GPS rideshare and agricultural analytics), which we do not count as space companies.
Seraphim SpaceSpaceTech Investment Tracker (formerly the Seraphim Space Index)
Counts third-party private capital invested at arm's length worldwide (a founder's own money is excluded), across a SpaceTech universe that also takes in platforms such as high-altitude aircraft and data analytics. It does not say whether debt is included.
Counts venture capital deals only, worldwide, by PitchBook's own Space Tech taxonomy. Its 2026 snapshot reports the first half of the year, not quarters. The full report is for clients; the headline figures are public.
Publishes start-up space investment once a year (Start-Up Space 2026 covers 2025: $10.9B). Its method (report PDF, pages 9 and 31) counts publicly reported seed, venture and private equity plus debt financing, M&A and IPOs, for companies that began as angel- or venture-backed start-ups, from inception until their IPO or acquisition (post-IPO raises are not included). It covers upstream and midstream space companies and direct users of satellite imagery data. Its quarterly briefing covers launches, not investment.
Counts private investment in space ventures worldwide, debt financing included; its database also records IPOs, SPAC mergers, stock sales and government grants.
A company counts as listed from its first trading day on a stock exchange (or the close of its SPAC merger). Rounds dated before that day are its private history and count as private funding like any other private round. Where a listed company’s listing date is not yet recorded, its current listing status decides and the row is marked "listing date not yet recorded".
Only rounds into space companies count. A company counts as space when its own recorded sector is space work (launch, satellites, ground segment, earth observation, in-space infrastructure and the like). Defense, aerospace, government and military companies count only when their recorded subsector names space work, so a defense company's rounds are excluded unless the company is space-specific (True Anomaly counts; Anduril does not). A company with no recorded sector is excluded. Excluded rounds are listed separately, never deleted.
16 counted rounds have no disclosed amount and add $0, so the totals are a floor, not an estimate.
Lead investors are split into co-leads ("Eclipse / Riot Ventures" is two leads). A co-led round counts in full for each co-lead, so the lead-investor totals can add up to more than the quarter.
Sector attribution follows the company profile, so a company that changed sector is reported under its current one in both quarters.
The comparison with Q2 2026 uses the frozen Q2 2026 edition (frozen September 29, 2026), not the live record, so a late-reported Q2 2026 round cannot move it.
Announced raises that have not closed ("Raising now": a company says it is raising, or a report says it is in talks) are never counted. Only a closed round is a round.
Evidence: 2 sec-verified, 38 press-reported, 5 editor-entered. SEC-verified means the round was matched to an SEC Form D filing; press-reported means it was taken from a cited news report or company announcement and not yet matched to a filing; editor-entered means an editor recorded it by hand.
10 rounds were stated only as a floor or an approximation ("more than", "about"). They count as a round, the stated figure is shown and in the CSV, and nothing is added to the dollar total until a source gives an exact figure.
Rounds announced in another currency are converted to US dollars at the reference rate recorded on the round; the original amount is in the CSV.
Every figure is computed from our own records; nothing in this edition is model-written.