Exploration Company raises $160M to build Europe’s answer to SpaceX Dragon

There are only two companies that provide transportation to and from the International Space Station, and both are based in the United States. The Exploration Company, which operates out of Germany, France, and Italy, is looking to change that: It recently closed a major funding round to further its goal of building Europe’s first reusable capsule.

The $160 million Series B round will fund continued development of the Nyx spacecraft, which will be able to carry 3,000 kilograms of cargo to and from Earth. The company, founded three years ago by flight engineers Hélène Huby, Sebastien Reichstat, and Pierre Vine, aims to conduct Nyx’s first flight to and from the ISS in 2028.

“We are the first company in the world to be funded by private investors for the first time,” said Huby in a recent interview. This is in contrast to SpaceX’s Dragon capsule, which he says is “heavily funded by NASA.”

The new funding, led by Balderton Capital and Plural, brings the startup’s total funding to date to more than $208 million. Series B also included participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, NGP Capital, and two European private equity funds, French Tech Souveraineté and DeepTech & Climate Fonds.

“We were able to fulfill our promises in the last three years,” said Huby. “We have been able to meet our financial goal every quarter … Investors, they have seen that we can deliver on time, on cost, on quality.”

The startup has gained traction with the European Space Agency (ESA), which has recognized the need to promote indigenous space launches and transport capabilities. The Exploration Company was awarded a study contract worth about 25 million Euros ($27 million) to develop recovery services earlier this year. That contract will run until 2026, with more competitive contract opportunities expected to follow. ESA’s goal is to launch at least one capsule to the ISS by 2028.

The structure of the contract, called the LEO Cargo Return Service Contract, is similar to NASA’s Commercial Orbital Return Transportation Services program that the agency established in 2006. That program led to multibillion-dollar transportation contracts to SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corporation (now Northrop Grumman).

It’s a promising start, but what’s equally promising is how The Exploration Company sees it on the commercial side. About 90% of the $770 million contract backlog comes from private space station developers Vast, Axiom Space, and Starlab, according to a recent report.

The Exploration Company’s first vehicle was launched on the first Ariane 6 flight this summer, although it was not used due to a problem with the rocket’s upper stage. A second small-scale demonstrator mission, called Mission Possible, is scheduled to launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 next year.

“I have a lot of respect for what SpaceX has been able to accomplish,” Huby said. “We try to learn a lot from that, we are inspired by those who have achieved it. But we also believe that the world needs more competition and we want, step by step, to build an alternative. We know very well that we are late, that we are too young, etc., but we have to start. ”