Wall Street Just Gave Space a Promotion

BY PROCUREAM RESEARCH

Goldman Sachs just reclassified the space economy.

In a report published during August 2026, the bank stopped calling space a theme and started calling it an institutional asset class.¹ That is not a semantic shift. That is a repricing of the entire category.

The receipts are on the tape. Space Capital tracked a record $55 billion of investment into the sector in 2025,² followed by a record $36 billion in the first quarter of 2026 alone. Firefly Aerospace*’s IPO was 25 times oversubscribed and York Space Systems* was 20 times.³ SpaceX* priced what coverage called the largest public offering in history.

When Wall Street changes what it calls something, capital tends to follow.

What “institutional asset class” actually means

Goldman’s own definition is the useful one. The Global Institute’s August report, “The Second Space Age,” argues that dramatic cost reductions, deep private capital, a wave of public listings and recognized economic and strategic importance have solidified space as an institutional asset class. The sector has evolved from a government-led frontier into a market-led sector with its own supply chain, its own infrastructure nodes, and its own investable value chain: launch, manufacturing, orbital infrastructure, and space-derived data.

The number that made this possible

In 1981, putting one kilogram into low Earth orbit cost $65,400. Today it costs roughly $1,500.⁴ Everything downstream, the $1.8 trillion 2035 projection, the IPO wave, the M&A pipeline Goldman expects, follows from that one cost curve.

$1,500

the approximate cost today of putting one kilogram into low Earth orbit, down from $65,400 in 1981.⁴

Semiconductors did the same thing between 1970 and 2000. Cloud computing did it between 2006 and 2015. When a foundational unit cost collapses by a significant order of magnitude, the industries built on top of it become investable in ways they were not before.

Wall Street’s consensus, in one paragraph

Goldman Sachs projects the space economy could reach $1.8 trillion by 2035. Morgan Stanley projects roughly $1 trillion by 2040.⁵ Bank of America projects $1.4 trillion by 2030.⁶ Citi, JPMorgan, and McKinsey have all landed inside the same range.⁶ When every desk on the Street builds a different model and lands in the same ballpark, the argument stops being about the number.

Where UFO fits

The Procure Space ETF^® (NASDAQ: UFO) follows a published methodology, and its holdings span launch, manufacturing, orbital infrastructure, and space-derived data. Launched in 2019 as the first pure-play space ETF, it was built around the same categories Goldman just named as the institutional value chain, seven years ahead of the label.⁷

The definition came first. The promotion came second.

¹ Goldman Sachs Global Institute, “The Second Space Age: How Markets, Technology, and Power Are Reshaping the Final Frontier,” https://www.goldmansachs.com, August 2026
² Space Capital, “Space Investment Quarterly: Q4 2025,” https://www.spacecapital.com, January 2026
³ AE Industrial Partners, Miami Space Summit, February 5, 2026, as reported by SpaceNews, https://spacenews.com, February 2026
⁴ Cosmik “Launch Cost Per KG to Orbit,” https://gocosmik.com, September 2026
⁵ Morgan Stanley, “A New Space Economy on the Edge of Liftoff,” https://www.morganstanley.com, 2020
⁶ Bank of America research, as reported by CNBC, https://www.cnbc.com, 2023
⁷ McKinsey and World Economic Forum joint analysis, https://www.mckinsey.com, April 2024
⁸ ProcureAM, www.procureetfs.com/ufo, September 2026

Important Information

*As of September 4, 2026, Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SPCX) was a 5.29% holding, Firefly Aerospace Inc (FLY) was a 1.89% holding, and York Space Systems Inc (YSS) was a 0.75% holding in the Procure Space ETF^® (NASDAQ: UFO).

For a complete list of holdings in UFO, visit: https://procureetfs.com/ufo/. Fund holdings and sector allocations are subject to change at any time and should not be considered a recommendation to buy or sell any security.

Please consider the Fund’s investment objectives, risks, and charges and expenses carefully before you invest. This and other important information is contained in the Fund’s summary prospectus and prospectus, which can be obtained by visiting procureetfs.com. Read carefully before you invest.

Investing involves risk. Principal loss is possible. The Fund is also subject to the following risks: Shares of any ETF are bought and sold at market price (not NAV), may trade at a discount or premium to NAV and are not individually redeemed from the funds. Brokerage commissions will reduce returns.

Aerospace and defense companies can be significantly affected by government aerospace and defense regulation and spending policies. The exploration of space by private industry and the harvesting of space assets is a business based in future and is witnessing new entrants into the market. Investments in the Fund will be riskier than traditional investments in established industry sectors. The Fund is considered to be concentrated in securities of companies that operate or utilize satellites which are subject to manufacturing delays, launch delays or failures, and operational and environmental risks that could limit their ability to utilize the satellites needed to deliver services to customers. Investing in foreign securities are volatile, harder to price, and less liquid than U.S. securities. Securities of small- and mid-capitalization companies may experience much more price volatility, greater spreads between their bid and ask prices and significantly lower trading volumes than securities issued by large, more established companies. The Fund is not actively managed so it would not take defensive positions in declining markets unless such positions are reflected in the underlying index. Please refer to the summary prospectus for a more detailed explanation of the Funds’ principal risks. It is not possible to invest in an index.

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