The Exploration Company and ClearSpace, two ESA BIC start-ups, secured major fundings to implement their space missions with the participation of investors from the ESA Investor Network.
ClearSpace
ClearSpace is a Swiss company who participated in the ESA BIC Switzerland programme and whose aim is to remove space debris through ClearSpace-1, a mission scheduled to launch in 2026 supported and mandated by ESA. In January 2023 ClearSpace closed a $29 million series A round from a global team of venture capital investors led by OTB Ventures, member of the ESA Investor Network, along with Swisscom Ventures, the investment arm of Switzerland-based telco Swisscom.
ClearSpace co-founders and CEO Luc Piguet and CTO Muriel Richard-Noca stated: “We began this company 4 years ago with the goal of making space operations sustainable and are delighted to be joined on our journey by our new partner investors. We look forward to accelerating our activities to meet the urgent needs of space sustainability.”
Adam Niewiński, GP & co-founder at OTB Ventures said: “Tens of thousands of artificial objects are tracked in orbit around the Earth, with many times that expected to be in orbit but are too small to be tracked. ClearSpace is developing key technologies for satellite proximity and rendezvous operations in space, which is essential for the sustainable future of space.”
The Exploration Company
ESA BIC Bavaria incubatee The Exploration Company raised a €40 million round, the biggest space tech Series A in Europe, co-lead by EQT Group and Red River West. The mission of the company is to make space exploration affordable and sustainable. With this goal in mind, they are building Nyx, a sustainable and reusable capsule that can fly cargo into space, resupply space stations and potentially transport humans. After the flights of two capsule demonstrators planned in 2023 and 2024, the Nyx capsule maiden flight is expected to take place in 2026 and will enable an era of affordable, sustainable and open space explorations.
Co-founder and CEO of The Exploration Company, Hélène Huby, explained: “Nyx, our spacecraft, is the first space capsule to be privately funded, the first to use green propellants and the first to open source its operating system.”
EQT Ventures Partner, Ted Persson, said: “Hélène and the team have brought together a unique mix of world-class industry veterans and young space and software engineers to capitalise on a huge market opportunity and will ultimately enable Europe – and others – to participate in the discovery of the new space words, in a sustainable and cooperative manner.”
Credit: ClearSpace
Credit: The Exploration Company