Space pioneer shoots for the stars at Seraphim Space investment trust

As a boy, Mark Boggett did not dream of becoming an astronaut. Rather than training at the Kennedy Space Centre, the manager of the Seraphim Space investment trust envisaged a corner office in downtown Manhattan.

‘I wanted to be a stockbroker,’ he recalls. ‘When I was growing up, my favourite film was Wall Street, starring Michael Douglas as trader Gordon Gekko.’

But the final frontier was always one of Boggett’s interests. His personal passion became a professional one that has driven him to establish the world’s leading space fund, exploiting a market set to be worth $1.8 trillion (£1.3 trillion) in 2035, up from $626 billion (£460 billion) today.

The 55-year-old may watch rom-com films with his wife, who is reluctant to follow a viewing diet made up entirely of fantastical films, but his working life is all about ensuring that sci-fi ideas become a realisable vision.

Boggett is driven by a belief that the companies exploring space can make us safer not only through their defence applications – the trust’s major theme – but also by saving the Earth’s scarce energy and water resources.

Such is the potential that the trust is boldly going forth to raise £350 million in a new share issue. Investors have given the plan a warm reception, he reports.

Their final response, set to be unveiled on Wednesday, will be an indication of how willing they are to take a gamble on new space-age technology.

Seraphim’s fund-raising may be dwarfed by this year’s other big space event – the $1.7 trillion (£1.2 trillion) stock market flotation of Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX, owner of the Starlink satellite internet service. But Boggett is not cowed by the comparison.

Musk has an aspiration to found ‘a space-faring civilisation’, as disclosed in a pre-flotation filing last week.

Boggett’s aims may be more modest – improving the lot of those on this Earth – but he says he has ample scope for this mission.

‘SpaceX has access to 15 to 20 per cent of the opportunities in space; we are looking at the other 80 per cent,’ he asserts.

Innovations include advances in sensor technology that would enable the pinpointing to ‘within centimetres’ of enemy troop positions, and detecting the culprits behind river pollution.

Orbiting satellites could also house the data centres that provide computing power for artificial intelligence (AI), which use vast amounts of energy and water. ‘Ground-based data centres could be regulated out,’ he predicts.

Boggett and his fellow managers are already eyeing investments on which to spend the new cash.

He can assess the viability of these businesses better because he pursued his stockbroker ambitions, and understands the value of research.

While Seraphim was launched in 2021, Boggett began his space journey two decades ago with his two colleagues from a venture capital fund that sought companies to include in its portfolio.

All three have dyslexia, which Boggett has described as a ‘superpower’ that helps them take a contrarian view. ‘We asked major names like Airbus to introduce us to the companies that would disrupt them,’ he reflects.

Boggett argues space tech is at a ‘critical inflection point’. Advances will only be made if enough new, miniaturised, low-cost satellites are launched.

‘Currently there are about 15,000 satellites in space. There is the chance for 100,000,’ he reckons.

Seraphim does not own a slice of high-flying SpaceX but the trust’s shares have nearly quadrupled in the past couple of years, thanks to some stellar bets paying off.

‘We have invested in 45 companies, nine of which have turned into unicorns that are valued at $1 billion-plus. We’ve had just three failures,’ Boggett says.

‘We have also had five IPOs – companies that have joined the stock market – like AST SpaceMobile’, where the shares have sky-rocketed.

Another holding, the US space analytics company HawkEye360, began the process of securing a listing last week.

ICEYE, a rapidly-growing Finnish firm, is Seraphim’s largest stake, worth about $2.4 billion (£1.76 billion). Boggett explains what the company does with his characteristic knack of making space sound simple.

‘When ICEYE’s radar satellites look at the earth, they can make out something the size of a dinner plate,’ he says. ‘They can scan every square of earth every hour to discern changes. This means Ukraine can see what is going on beyond its borders.

‘But in the case of a flood, it can identify the speed and the depth of the flood water. Insurers can use this information to establish the amount of damage caused to a property without needing to send someone out, meaning the claim is settled more quickly,’ he adds.

Such is Boggett’s enthusiasm for the companies that he is backing that he persuaded me to become an investor.

But even he will only go so far. He doesn’t want to be a passenger on one of the space trips offered by the likes of Blue Origin, the rocket operator owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

There is no chance that he will spend a long weekend on the proposed space station for civilians, which will feature five-star Hilton accommodation.

When it comes to going to infinity and beyond, investors will be relieved to learn that Wall Street is the limit of his ambitions.