Our investors see we ain’t messing around.”
ESA’s been vibing with The Exploration Company too realizing the need to boost Europe’s space game. “Hitting our targets, staying on budget, and keeping the quality top-notch. But hold up, ’cause here comes The Exploration Company, straight outta Germany, France, and Italy, ready to shake things up! They just scored a fat stack of cash to make Europe’s first reusable space capsule dreams come true.
This mega $160 million bag of cash from Series B investors is gonna keep the Nyx spacecraft development train chugging along. If all goes according to plan we could be seeing their capsule in orbit by 2028.
The contract model ESA’s using the LEO Cargo Return Service Contract is like a Euro twist on the commercial program NASA kicked off in ‘06 né?. Bessemer Venture Partners NGP Capital and a couple of Euro power players French Tech Souveraineté and DeepTech & Climate Fonds also joined the funding party.
“We’ve been crushing it for the past three years” Huby boasted. Keep an eye out for their second mission Mission Possible set to blast off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 next year.
“We got mad respect for SpaceX” Huby admits né?. We know we’re running a little late, playing small ball, but hey, we gotta start somewhere.” Oh, and by the way, Huby’s flying solo as founder. né?. They even shelled out big bucks for a study contract worth around $27 million to work on cargo return services. The startup has racked up around 90% of its $770 million contract bookings from private players like Vast, Axiom Space, and Starlab né?. of A né?. So like right now there’s only two companies doing the whole cargo delivery thing to and from the International Space Station and guess what? They’re both repping the red white and blue of the good ol’ U.S né?. Their first test vehicle took a ride on Ariane 6 earlier this summer but got held back ’cause of a rocket glitch. We’re taking notes getting inspired but we also want to mix things up and bring in some healthy competition. “They’re killing it né?. The brainchild of aerospace engineer Hélène Huby, The Exploration Company is gearing up to send Nyx on its maiden voyage to the ISS in 2028.
In a recent interview, Huby mentioned, “Yo, we’re the first peeps in the world getting major private investor love for this kinda gig.” She threw a little shade at SpaceX, saying their Dragon capsule was mostly on NASA’s dime.
With leads from Balderton Capital and Plural, this latest cash injection brings the startup’s total funding well past the $208 million mark. Nyx is set to be the boss that can haul up to 3,000 kilograms of cargo to and from Earth. That program scored SpaceX and Northrop Grumman fat stacks for space deliveries.
But it’s not just talk—the buzz around The Exploration Company is real, especially in the private space world
