The UK Space Agency Accelerator is continually demonstrating the importance of investment, innovation, and commercial growth across the UK space sector. This is further supported by strong results from the 2025 Explore and Leo accelerator cohorts
Designed to support early-stage space entrepreneurs, the UK Space Agency Accelerator provides targeted mentoring, ecosystem access and investor engagement to help ventures move more quickly from concept to commercial reality.
GOV.UK explained to us how its latest outcomes highlight how structured support can translate ambition into measurable economic impact.
A strong track record of growth
Since its launch, the UK Space Agency Accelerator has delivered 20 cohorts and supported more than 317 high-potential space entrepreneurs from across the UK.
Participants have collectively received over 11,000 hours of hands-on mentoring and guidance, helping ventures refine their commercial strategies and strengthen leadership capability.
At this moment in time, supported businesses have raised more than £65 million in private and public funding, underlining the Accelerator’s strong return on investment and its growing role within the UK’s space innovation ecosystem.
Explore and Leo cohorts
The 2025 Explore and Leo cohorts supported 45 founders at an early stage of their entrepreneurial journey. The programmes focused on building commercial confidence, accelerating decision-making and strengthening routes to market.
Across both cohorts, participants reported more than 200 new high-value connections with investors, industry partners, peers and mentors. These connections were not limited to short-term engagement but centred on long-term collaboration and commercial opportunities.
More than 35 new strategic partnerships were also formed, showing the Accelerator’s emphasis on peer learning and ecosystem integration.
Investment, revenue and market readiness
Within just a few months of completing the programmes, founders across Explore and Leo secured more than £2.8 million in combined private investment and grant funding. Monthly revenues increased by over £112,000, alongside clear improvements in customer engagement, technology readiness and commercial focus.
Participants also reported that the UK Space Agency Accelerator helped shorten their time-to-market, with ventures moving towards deployment more than 6 months faster on average.
Personalised mentoring, investor-led insight and practical commercial support were identified as key drivers behind this acceleration.
Long-term impact
The long-term value of the UK Space Agency Accelerator is also clear in the progress of its alumni. Frontier Space, a UK-based space biotechnology company that previously took part in the Leo programme, has continued to benefit from expert-led support and investor engagement.
The company has since validated its SpaceLab Mark 1 autonomous microgravity laboratory in orbit, a significant milestone for scalable in-space research and biomanufacturing.
The UK space ecosystem
Beyond individual company success, the UK Space Agency Accelerator is playing a major role in developing entrepreneurial capability across the sector. By focusing on leadership, mindset, and ecosystem connections alongside commercial outcomes, it is helping build a more resilient and diverse UK space industry.
While the Explore and Leo programmes have now finished, the UK Space Agency Accelerator continues to support ventures through its Fusion, Geo and Shuttle programmes. Applications for upcoming cohorts are set to open in early 2026.
