Spacefund

SpaceFund is a Houston, Texas-based venture capital firm founded in 2017 specializing in early-stage space technology investments, co-founded by Rick Tumlinson — a long-time space entrepreneur and co-founder of the Space Frontier Foundation — and Meagan Crawford, known for the SpaceFund Reality Rating, a quantitative framework for assessing space startups' technical and commercial readiness. The fund writes early-stage checks ($50K-$500K) into pre-seed and seed stage companies across the full space technology stack: launch vehicles, satellite manufacturing, propulsion, space stations, in-space manufacturing, space resources, and space data services. SpaceFund's geographic base in Houston reflects its founders' connections to the NASA Johnson Space Center ecosystem and the Texas space industry, including Blue Origin's planned 100-person operation expansion and numerous Houston-based space services companies supporting ISS operations. The SpaceFund Reality Rating (SFRR) is the firm's public contribution to the space investment community — a multi-factor scorecard rating space startups from 1 to 100 on dimensions including technology readiness level (TRL), market validation, team experience, and competitive positioning. By publishing ratings, SpaceFund builds credibility and deal flow from entrepreneurs who want unbiased external assessment of their companies. The firm has invested in over 30 companies including Earthrise Space, Momentus (pre-IPO), and multiple propulsion startups. SpaceFund competes with Space Capital, Seraphim Space, and Bessemer Venture Partners' space portfolio in the early-stage space VC market, differentiating through its technical credibility framework, Houston-centric network, and founders' deep space advocacy community connections.