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Nasdaq Newsroom

Innovation

How Nasdaq Is Supporting the Space Economy

May 04, 2026 — 08:00 am EDT

Written by

Nasdaq Newsroom

Nasdaq (NDAQ) has long positioned itself at the center of major technology shifts—from the stock market's transition from a paper-based system to the electronic age in 1971, to Apple (AAPL) and Microsoft's (MSFT) listings in the 1980s, through the internet boom and the mobile era. Now, the exchange is making the same case for space.

"Nasdaq has been there to support every major technology revolution," said Jeff Thomas, Executive Vice President, Chief Revenue Officer and Global Head of Listings, Capital Access Platforms, at Nasdaq. "We fully expect to play the same role as the space economy comes to the forefront."

According to Thomas, space is the next trillion-dollar market, and one that will serve as an enabler for other advanced technology fields—from satellite-based connectivity to new applications in artificial intelligence (AI) and defense.

Space Capital, a venture capital firm with $1 billion assets under management (AUM) investing at the intersection of space technology and global markets, tracks and reports on the growth of this market quarterly.

Chad Anderson, Founder & CEO, Space Capital, said that space is “the invisible backbone of the global economy. Infrastructure in orbit is already powering the global economy today; it’s increasingly converging with terrestrial infrastructure."

Space Capital's 2026 Space IQ report noted that a record $36B was invested in Q1 across 148 companies, “shattering the previous quarterly record.” It goes on to note that “infrastructure investment alone reached $6.7 billion, on pace to exceed the annual record set last year.”

The report looked at three critical categories: Infrastructure (hardware and software to support launches such as rockets); distribution (hardware and software to connect and process data); and applications (specialized tools such as GPS, data analytics, weather monitoring, and more). Ultimately, it notes that the “convergence of AI, geopolitics, and orbital compute is driving capital into the space economy at a pace and scale that would have seemed implausible five years ago.”

Thomas said that this is consistent with how Nasdaq sees the trajectory of the space economy.

"Looking across the key areas of infrastructure, distribution and applications, it's very easy to get to a trillion-dollar-plus number," he said. "The question is where that market is going to be captured, and that gets down to which companies have the scale and the innovation to go and capture that opportunity."

Breaking down the industries outlined in the Space Capital report, the cumulative private market equity investment from 2009 to present is:

- Applications: $304 billion

- Infrastructure: $128.6 billion

- Distribution: $22.4 billion

From the Nasdaq MarketSite in Times Square, Anderson breaks down the most consequential quarter in space economy history in this video:

Future reports will also be broken down at MarketSite; in addition, Nasdaq will host Space Capital’s annual summit in 2026, an invite-only event covering the evolution of the space economy.

Thomas described the current pipeline of companies approaching public markets as more financially mature than those of earlier technology cycles. Greater availability of private capital has allowed them to stay private longer and IPO with real revenues and customer bases—a contrast to the 2020–2021 period when, in his words, many companies that went public "were at earlier stages of growth."

According to the report, “VCs remained the most active investors, accounting for 85% of Q1 rounds and 60% of capital. Investors realized $8B across 28 exits, including 26 acquisitions, one IPO, and one SPAC.”

"Investors are going to expect not just growth, but profitability as well," Thomas said. "How do you get to that profitability? It's by leveraging technology and being much more efficient as a business. Showing that you can utilize AI in a productive way is a big part of that picture."

When the crew of Artemis II rang the closing bell at Nasdaq's MarketSite in New York April 30, Thomas said it reflected both a cultural moment and a statement about Nasdaq's orientation toward the sector.

"Our brand vision is to rewrite tomorrow, and we're always looking for those moments that capture the public imagination and help everybody think about what tomorrow could look like," he said. "When you think about the first crewed spaceflight going around the moon and coming back safely, with the world watching, those are the types