Isar Aerospace: Series C increased to over € 220 million with NATO Innovation Fund

Munich — Satel­lite launch services provi­der Isar Aero­space today announ­ced a signi­fi­cant increase of more than €65 million in its Series C finan­cing round, which now totals over €220 million. The NATO Inno­va­tion Fund (NIF) — an inde­pen­dent venture capi­tal fund supported by 24 NATO member states with an invest­ment volume of over one billion euros — is inves­t­ing in Isar Aero­space for the first time; this is also the first direct invest­ment by the NATO Inno­va­tion Fund in a satel­lite launch service provi­der. The fund supports deep-tech compa­nies in the fields of defense, secu­rity and resi­li­ence. The commit­ment repres­ents NIF’s first direct invest­ment in a satel­lite launch services provi­der and unders­cores the importance of space tech­no­lo­gies for both civil inno­va­tion and defense capabilities.

Other new inves­tors in the exten­sion of the Series C finan­cing round include the Euro­pean family office G3T as well as the inves­tors 10x Group, Besant Capi­tal, Finad­vice Med HOLDINGS and LP&E. Exis­ting inves­tors Lake­star, Early­bird, Airbus Ventures, Porsche SE, Bayern Kapi­tal and UVC Part­ners made signi­fi­cant contri­bu­ti­ons to the Series C finan­cing round.

Using commer­cial tech­no­lo­gies as a lever for sovereignty

Andrea Traver­sone, Mana­ging Part­ner of the NATO Inno­va­tion Fund, says: “Access to space is criti­cal to the tech­no­lo­gi­cal sove­reig­nty of Europe and the UK. Space tech­no­lo­gies like Isar Aerospace’s offer huge poten­tial and will enable us to build a secure and prospe­rous future for gene­ra­ti­ons to come. We will support Isar by promo­ting deploy­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties in both govern­ment and commer­cial sectors.”

Leading nati­ons such as the USA are alre­ady basing their space and defense stra­te­gies on commer­cial space capa­bi­li­ties, as the procu­re­ment of private commer­cial services and products is more inno­va­tive, more effi­ci­ent and, above all, more cost-effective.
Daniel Metz­ler, co-foun­­der and CEO of Isar Aero­space, says: “The NATO Inno­va­tion Fund’s invest­ment in Isar Aero­space is a strong sign of confi­dence in our approach and under­lines the funda­men­tal role of space tech­no­lo­gies for our economy and society. But more than that, it shows that Euro­pean govern­ments need to encou­rage and leverage private inno­va­tion and products to compete globally.”

Leading New Space company in Europe

With a total finan­cing volume of more than 400 million euros since its foun­da­tion in 2018, Isar Aero­space is the most capi­ta­li­zed inde­pen­dent New Space company in Europe. The company has estab­lished itself as a tech­no­logy leader thanks to complete verti­cal inte­gra­tion with its own deve­lo­p­ment, produc­tion and test­ing proces­ses. Isar Aero­space relies on scalable series produc­tion to indus­tria­lize the produc­tion of launch vehicles.

In May 2024, Isar Aero­space announ­ced plans to build the world’s most modern produc­tion faci­lity for orbi­tal launch vehic­les near Munich. In coope­ra­tion with the pan-Euro­­pean real estate company VGP Group, which will deve­lop and build the faci­lity, Isar Aero­space will be able to produce up to 40 Spec­trum launch vehic­les per year.

This latest funding will enable Isar Aero­space to invest in the initial set-up and ramp-up of its series produc­tion. With a high degree of auto­ma­tion and a focus on scala­bi­lity, the company will be able to meet the growing demand from the private and public sectors for the trans­por­ta­tion of small and medium-sized satel­li­tes and satel­lite constel­la­ti­ons at compe­ti­tive prices.

About Isar Aerospace
Isar Aero­space, based near Munich, deve­lops and builds launch vehic­les for the trans­por­ta­tion of small and medium-sized satel­li­tes and satel­lite constel­la­ti­ons into Earth orbit. The company was foun­ded in 2018 as a spin-off of the Tech­ni­cal Univer­sity of Munich. Since then, it has grown to over 400 employees from more than 50 nati­ons, who have many years of prac­ti­cal space exper­tise as well as expe­ri­ence in other high-tech sectors. With a total finan­cing volume of more than EUR 400 million, Isar Aero­space is the best-finan­­ced inde­pen­dent new space company in Europe and a pioneer in scaling and indus­tria­li­zing the produc­tion of launch vehic­les through verti­cal inte­gra­tion. The two-stage orbi­tal launch vehicle “Spec­trum” is speci­ally desi­gned for the cons­truc­tion of satel­lite constel­la­ti­ons and provi­des access to one of the most crucial tech­no­lo­gi­cal plat­forms of our time: space. Further infor­ma­tion can be found at: https://www.isaraerospace.com/.

About the new inves­tors in Isar Aerospace’s Series C finan­cing round

About the NATO Inno­va­tion Fund:
The NATO Inno­va­tion Fund is a venture capi­tal fund supported by 24 NATO member states that invests more than one billion euros in cutting-edge tech­no­lo­gies to address defense, secu­rity and resi­li­ence chal­lenges. The fund invests inde­pendently, with 24 states support­ing the success of the port­fo­lio and helping deep tech entre­pre­neurs gain access to commer­cial and govern­ment markets. The parti­ci­pa­ting NATO count­ries are: Belgium, Bulga­ria, Denmark, Germany, Esto­nia, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithua­nia, Luxem­bourg, the Nether­lands, Norway, Poland, Portu­gal, Roma­nia, Sweden, Slova­kia, Spain, the Czech Repu­blic, Turkey, Hungary and the United King­dom. Further infor­ma­tion: https://www.nif.fund/

About the 10x Group:
10x Group is a group of serial entre­pre­neurs inves­t­ing in foun­ders across Europe and Sili­con Valley. Previous invest­ments include Adyen, Equip­mentS­hare, Revolt, Enpal, Open­Door, Lumi­nar, Deli­ver­y­Hero, Robin­hood and seve­ral other well-known global companies.

About Besant:
Besant is an invest­ment company with assets under manage­ment of over USD 500 million and offices in Europe and the Ameri­cas. It offers dedi­ca­ted invest­ment solu­ti­ons in selec­ted growth sectors that are bene­fiting from far-reaching chan­ges. Besant’s team has exten­sive exper­tise in finan­cial, stra­te­gic and opera­tio­nal manage­ment and brings more than 50 years of combi­ned expe­ri­ence in public and private markets, with over $2.9 billion inves­ted. Besant Digi­tal focu­ses on global venture capi­tal invest­ments with a focus on tech­no­logy and digi­tal busi­ness models. The main target regi­ons are Europe, Israel and the USA as proven centers for innovation.

About Finad­vice Med HOLDINGS:
Finad­vice Med HOLDINGS is a Swiss invest­ment company supported by a group of Euro­pean entrepreneurs.

About G3T:
The family busi­ness is a holding company with indus­trial roots. It was a share­hol­der in Aber­tis, one of the world’s leading compa­nies in the high­way and tele­com­mu­ni­ca­ti­ons infra­struc­ture sector. Its main busi­ness areas are curr­ently rene­wa­ble ener­gies, real estate (Spain, France and Germany) and health­care centers, and it is also present in the agri­cul­tu­ral and indus­trial sectors through finan­cial invest­ments. It holds a signi­fi­cant stake in Flui­dra, the global market leader for swim­ming pool and well­ness equipment.

The corpo­rate busi­ness is mana­ged directly, and in the case of finan­cial invest­ments, whether listed or private equity, the company holds a signi­fi­cant and stable posi­tion, is closely linked to the manage­ment and pursues a long-term orien­ta­tion. Venture Capi­tal was inte­gra­ted into the stra­te­gic plan as a new busi­ness area with the aim of acqui­ring mino­rity inte­rests in tech­­no­­logy-orien­­ted growth companies.

About LP&E:
LP&E is a priva­tely held venture capi­tal firm based in Switz­er­land that focu­ses on invest­ments in emer­ging tech­no­lo­gies and inno­va­tive busi­ness models.

About Porsche SE: