A new €560 million partnership between the European Investment Bank (EIB) and Deutsche Bank marks another step in this direction, opening new financing opportunities for space businesses across Europe looking to bring technologies to market and expand their industrial capabilities.
Announced during the European Space Agency (ESA) DACH Space Investor Forum in Munich on 29 October, the partnership brings together European public financing and commercial banking expertise to address a persistent challenge for the sector: access to affordable, long-term capital.
A new opportunity for space businesses across Europe
The new partnership between the EIB and Deutsche Bank brings additional financing capacity to the European space sector.
The €560 million initiative will widen the financing available to European space businesses, supporting companies as they move from technology development towards commercial growth and industrial scale-up.
The financing will support investment across a range of space activities, from launch and satellite technologies to propulsion, Earth observation and in-orbit applications. With a pan-European scope, the initiative will be open to eligible companies across the EU, alongside a significant focus on Germany.
In the picture (from left): Antoine Broyé, Senior credit structurer, Corporate Bank at Deutsche Bank; Gianluigi Baldesi, Head of Ventures and Financing Office at ESA; Guenther Poettler, Managing Director in the Corporate Bank, Global Head of Structuring and Syndication at Deutsche Bank; Dr. Marcus Pleyer as State Secretary (Deputy Minister) in the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space; Alvaro Gil Aguado, Senior Loan Officer at EIB; Walther Pelzer, Director General of the German Space Agency at DLR; Christine Klein, Director of Controlling, Finance and Operational Procurement at ESA.
The initiative also reflects a broader priority for ESA: strengthening the conditions for European space companies to access finance as they grow.
As ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher explains: “Europe has a growing number of space companies with outstanding technologies that are ready to scale. The next step is ensuring they have access to the capital they need to grow. This initiative can help open that path, enabling European space companies to scale up, compete and succeed.”
Building on ESA’s wider effort to expand access to debt financing
The Deutsche Bank partnership forms part of Space TechEU, the EIB’s dedicated space financing programme, which is designed to mobilise an estimated €1.4 billion in investment with commercial banking partners. Working with ESA, the programme combines financing and guarantees with technical expertise to help banks expand lending across Europe’s space economy.
The agreement builds on the wider cooperation between ESA and the EIB to improve access to finance for European space businesses. Following the announcement of the EIB Space Lending Envelope at ESA’s Ministerial Council 2025 (CM25), ESA has supported its development by bringing knowledge of the European space market, companies’ financing needs and existing barriers into the dialogue with financial institutions. The Deutsche Bank partnership follows the first agreement established with Intesa Sanpaolo, which was designed to facilitate new lending to SMEs across Italy’s space supply chain.
At the same time, ESA is expanding access to finance for European space companies by strengthening connections between the needs of the space sector and the financial community. One concrete initiative is the Space Debt Catalogue, developed by ESA’s Ventures and Financing Office to give European space companies greater visibility of banks and financial institutions active in debt financing, the solutions they offer and the types of companies they support.
“For years, we have been working to bring the space sector and the financial community closer together. What matters is turning that dialogue into something companies can actually use: clearer routes to finance, the right financial partners and concrete solutions for different stages of growth. The Space Debt Catalogue, our cooperation with the EIB and the growing engagement of commercial banks are all part of that same journey, making finance work better for European space businesses.”
– Gianluigi Baldesi, Head of ESA’s Ventures and Financing Office
Read the press release