Space Stock Craze Comes to Europe as One UK Fund Quadruples

(Bloomberg) — It’s not just US retail investors piling into any asset connected to space exploration. Europeans want in, too.

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Shares in British SpaceX supplier Filtronic Plc are up 232% in a year, while German satellite maker OHB SE has gained 547%. Another standout winner has been Seraphim Space Investment Trust Plc, whose stock trades at a whopping 74% premium to its last reported net asset value after quadrupling in price.

The London-based fund just raised £137 million ($185 million) to expand its portfolio of investments in mainly unlisted firms, the largest of which is Finnish satellite startup Iceye. Reddit and X are buzzing about its meme-stock style rally, which bears comparison with surging US investment firms such as Procure Space ETF. The shares extended their gains on Thursday, rising as much as 4.5% and heading for a record close.

“It’s trading on a lot of hype at the moment,” said Haig Bathgate, chief executive officer of Callanish Capital, comparing Seraphim’s extraordinary run to the frenzy that surrounded Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust and its holding in Tesla Inc. in the early 2020s. “A lot of hype, momentum and lots of retail involvement – what could possibly go wrong?”

Baillie Gifford-managed Scottish Mortgage suffered a rapid reversal, plunging 50% from its 2021 high over the next 18 months. It has since raced back up above that peak propelled by its top holding, a stake in SpaceX, which is preparing for what could be the biggest initial public offering of all time.

Fear of missing out on a boom when Elon Musk brings his rocket company to market, possibly within a few weeks, is stoking enthusiasm among investors, as is the success of NASA’s Artemis II lunar mission. A third of the capital Seraphim raised last week came from small investors, and UK retail investment platforms make up two of the three biggest positions in the trust’s ordinary stock.

“Space is back in a big way,” wrote analysts at Morgan Stanley recently in a report identifying 60 companies poised to benefit from space exploration. Increased spending on defense is also feeding into the optimism.

Nerds on X

In the US, one SpaceX rival soared nearly 6,000% over a 22-month period, with a community of investors called the SpaceMob helping to drive up the price with posts on Musk’s social media platform. X is also at the center of the European craze.

Self-proclaimed space nerd Jason Horton, who promotes a portfolio on Israel-based trading platform eToro Group Ltd., said he used to get investment ideas from mailing lists and Usenet, one of the oldest computer message-sharing systems. Now he uses X, where he can interact with the companies themselves.

“Just about every CEO of any space company is on the platform,” Horton said.

Speculating on space has burned investors before. French satellite operator Eutelsat Communications SA, Europe’s rival to Starlink, rallied 300% in 2025 before plunging when investors began to doubt how much EU financial support might eventually be forthcoming for the company.

Even some enthusiasts are growing wary about Seraphim’s soaring price. The “premium is currently above 50% of its net asset value. Personally, I struggle to justify investing in it,” Reddit user wilhelmvonbolt wrote last month.

Satellites and Surveillance

Seraphim calculated that its assets were worth just over 140 pence per ordinary share at Dec 31, 2025. Investors now pay 245 pence for exposure to its portfolio of 45 investments, only a handful of which are publicly traded.

Chief Executive Officer Mark Boggett acknowledged the “significant premium” in an interview with Bloomberg last month but said the fund has a high success rate. Only three investments have failed in the 10 years since it was founded, he added.

Investors are counting on significant gains that aren’t yet reflected in the NAV, encouraged by recent developments at key portfolio companies.

Seraphim’s fourth-biggest holding, surveillance firm Hawkeye 360 Inc., recently priced its IPO at the top of the range. Iceye, meanwhile, is tapping into increased defense spending. It is in talks to raise €250 million ($295 million) in a funding round that could nearly double its previous valuation, according to people familiar with the matter.

“We’ve got three times as many unicorns for every failure that we have in the business, which is the inverse of what most investors have,” Boggett said.

–With assistance from Margaryta Kirakosian and Phil Serafino.

(Adds latest share move in third paragraph, updates values throughout.)