With its modular and reusable orbital vehicle Nix, The Exploration Company aims to democratize access to space for European private actors.
Space is an expensive endeavour, traditionally reserved for governmental missions alone. Recently, a growing number of private actors have entered the scene. US and China have started a race to first exploit the resources of space. European players are lagging behind, struggling to realize highly relevant missions from wildfire detection to building space-based solar power plants.
That is why Hélène Huby, former Head of Innovation at Airbus Defence and Space, founded The Exploration Company, probably Europe’s most ambitious space startup. Her mission is to shape sustainable, scalable, and affordable space journeys made in Europe. While a commercial experiment in space usually takes three years to prepare and costs 100,000€ per kilogram, The Exploration Company can offer their services within six months, charging only 20,000€ for the same load. In addition, the company operates a space store that offers tech bricks for sale, with standardized and open interfaces to enable others to build on their platform.
This allows The Exploration Company to enable a vast variety of industries from Space, Agri-Biotech, Pharmaceutical to Chemical and Entertainment. For instance, stem cells grow faster and better in space, and space-based solar panels could solve the energy crisis once and forever.
Location: Germany, Bavaria, Argelsried
Total raised: $450.36M
Investors 6
Date | Name | Website |
- | Vsquared V... | vsquared.v... |
- | Expansion ... | expansion-... |
- | Stellar Ve... | svc.vc |
18.04.2023 | EQT Ventur... | eqtventure... |
01.05.2023 | Partech Pa... | partechpar... |
27.01.2022 | Cherry Ven... | cherry.vc |
Funding Rounds 2
Date | Series | Amount | Investors |
07.02.2023 | Series A | $444.83M | Possible V... |
18.11.2021 | - | $5.53M | - |
Mentions in press and media 16
Date | Title | Description | Source |
30.01.2024 | TRUMPF’s new partnership to set sights on the Earth’s orbit ... | German technology company TRUMPF and European space travel start-up The Exploration Company have par... | 3dprinting... |
15.01.2024 | NewSpace-Startups, die alle auf der Agenda haben sollten | Die Eroberung des Weltraum findet längst nicht mehr nur in den USA statt. Auch in der deutschen Star... | deutsche-s... |
18.09.2023 | Max Q: Firefly conquered the night | Hello and welcome back to Max Q! In this issue: Firefly Aerospace conquered the night News from Vard... | techcrunch... |
13.09.2023 | The Exploration Company signs agreements with Axiom, Indian ... | Europe-based The Exploration Company is gearing up to compete with in-space delivery providers Space... | techcrunch... |
09.06.2023 | 9 spannende NewSpace-Startups, die jeder kennen sollte | Investitionen in NewSpace- und SpaceTech-Startups boomen trotz Krise weiter. Auch in Deutschland kon... | deutsche-s... |
10.04.2023 | The Exploration Company – einmal Mond und zurück | Zu den vielen Startups, die man unbedingt im Blick behalten sollte, gehört das NewSpace-Startup The ... | deutsche-s... |
01.02.2023 | The Exploration Company Raises €40M in Series A Funding | The Exploration Company, a Bordeaux, France- and Munich, Germany-based space tech startup, raised €4... | finsmes.co... |
01.02.2023 | The Exploration Company streicht 40,5 Millionen ein – Sdui s... | Im #DealMonitor für den 1. Februar werfen wir einen Blick auf die wichtigsten, spannendsten und inte... | deutsche-s... |
01.02.2023 | In no way boring, spacetech startup The Exploration Company ... | Franco-German spacetech The Exploration Company has raised a record €40.5 million in a Series A fund... | tech.eu/20... |
01.02.2023 | Germany-based The Exploration Company bags €40.5M from EQT V... | Bavaria, Germany-based The Exploration Company, a space tech company, announced on Wednesday that it... | siliconcan... |
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