- Record round is backed by a group of renowned international
investors, including 7-Industries Holding, Bayern Kapital,
Earlybird Venture Capital, HV Capital, Lakestar, Lombard Odier
Investment Managers, Porsche SE, UVC Partners, and Vsquared
Ventures
- USD 165m (EUR 155m) Series C marks the largest SpaceTech
financing round in 2023 globally
- Funding round underscores investor confidence in Isar
Aerospace's vision and proprietary technology and supports the
company in its mission to become market leader in space
industry
- Series C enables Isar Aerospace to continue its journey towards
the inaugural flight and ramp-up cadence of its Spectrum launch
vehicle
MUNICH, March 28,
2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Satellite launch service
company Isar Aerospace today announced the closing of its
USD 165m (EUR
155m) Series C round. To date in 2023, this is the largest
SpaceTech financing round globally and one of the largest European
DeepTech fundraises. The round is backed by 7-Industries Holding,
Bayern Kapital via its Scale Up Fund Bavaria, Earlybird Venture
Capital, HV Capital, Lakestar, Lombard Odier Investment Managers,
Porsche Automobil Holding SE (Porsche SE), UVC Partners, and
Vsquared Ventures. Investors Porsche SE and HV Capital will join
Isar Aerospace's Advisory Board together with 7-Industries Holding
joining in an observer capacity. Part of the funds provided by the
private investors is backed by the European Union and regional
programs managed by the European Investment Fund, such as InvestEU
and the German Future Fund.
The funding enables Isar Aerospace to continue its journey
towards the inaugural flight and ramp-up the cadence of its
Spectrum launch vehicle. It will also enable the scaling of its
proven production capabilities to serve the company's strong order
book for launches of small and medium-sized satellites as global
demand rises. At the same time, the Series C will allow the company
to keep investing in developments for new initiatives and products,
and to continue building on its vertical integration, especially
its automated production capabilities that significantly lower the
cost of building rockets.
Daniel Metzler, Co-Founder and
CEO of Isar Aerospace explains: "The strong interest and commitment
from our international investors signals their confidence in our
vision and technological capabilities. Today, and even more so
tomorrow, space technologies are key to enabling innovation,
technology and security. Isar Aerospace offers the access to space
that is urgently needed for commercial, institutional and
government customers. This financing round marks another important
step on our journey to orbit."
David Kownator, Chief Financial Officer of Isar Aerospace, adds:
"We are thrilled to have concluded this round of financing in a
difficult global market environment, building on strong investor
demand and the company's steady progress, at an increased valuation
compared to our Series B in July
2021."
The record round underlines Isar Aerospace's leading position in
the commercial space industry. At the same time, it highlights the
company's role in strengthening Europe's capabilities for consistent,
flexible, and cost-efficient access to space for commercial and
institutional customers worldwide. With a total financing amount
raised of more than USD 330m
(EUR 310m), Isar Aerospace is the
most capitalized independent New Space company in the European
Union.
Bulent Altan, Chairman of the
Advisory Board and seed investor in Isar Aerospace, says: "The
undeniably most common building block of any space application is
reliable and affordable access to orbit. Isar Aerospace is a
catalyst for the tremendous growth of the sector. With a crisp and
fast execution, focus on quality, and establishing capabilities for
future volume production, Isar Aerospace is emerging as a strong
leader in the space economy. I am extremely pleased to have been a
part of the journey from day one and look forward to the upcoming
first launches."
Full vertical integration, solid customer pipeline
Since its creation in 2018, Isar Aerospace has established
itself as a technological leader, having developed proprietary
know-how through full vertical integration, owning design,
production, and testing operations entirely in-house. Its
manufacturing facility, established in Munich, provides maximum reliability,
cost-efficiency, and flexibility. The high degree of automation
allows for future scalability to serve increasing market demand.
Isar Aerospace has signed firm contracts with customers globally,
including major commercial players, New Space companies, and
government institutions. The company's flight manifest is already
fully booked for its first years of operations, demonstrating its
strong positioning as a provider of cost-efficient access to
specific orbits for the deployment of constellations and targeted
use cases.
Targeting the inaugural flight in the second half of
2023
Isar Aerospace started the production of the maiden flight
vehicle while entering the qualification stages for its vehicle
systems. The entirely in-house developed and manufactured Aquila
engine is undergoing engine testing and qualification. At the same
time, the company is finalizing the build-up of its launch
infrastructure at the launch site in Andøya, Norway, from where the inaugural flight of its
launch vehicle Spectrum, which is planned for the second half of
2023, will take place.
Strengthening Europe's
capabilities to access orbit
Access to space is key to unlocking the innovation potential for
technologies urgently needed to address climate change, ensure
secure and efficient connectivity, and improve critical
infrastructure globally. With 2022 serving as a wake-up call for
Europe's geopolitical role,
decision-makers have prioritized the advancement of European
sovereign access to space, as the continent aims to ensure its
global competitiveness. Isar Aerospace will significantly
contribute to materializing independent capabilities for accessing
space. By developing and building launch vehicles that will
transport small and medium-sized satellites and constellations into
Earth's orbit, companies, institutions, and governments globally
will be empowered to improve their capabilities and services in
Earth observation, telecommunications, agriculture, disaster
management, transportation, environmental monitoring and
protection, scientific research, and defense applications.
About Isar Aerospace
Isar Aerospace, based in Ottobrunn/Munich, develops and builds launch vehicles
for transporting small and medium-sized satellites as well as
satellite constellations into Earth's orbit. The company was
founded in 2018 as a spin-off of Technical University Munich. Since
then, it has grown to more than 300 employees from more than 40
nations with many years of hands-on rocket know-how and experience
within other high-tech industries. More information via:
www.isaraerospace.com
About the Investors of Isar Aerospace's Series C Funding
Round
7-Industries Holding
7-Industries Holding B.V, the family office of Ruthi Wertheimer, specializes in long term
minority investments in entrepreneur or family led advanced and
industrial technology companies. More information:
www.7-industries.nl
Bayern Kapital
Bayern Kapital GmbH, based in Landshut (Germany), is the venture/growth capital
company of the Free State of Bavaria. It supports innovative
high-tech companies in Bavaria through their various growth phases,
from seed to later stage, with equity capital. More information:
www.bayernkapital.de
Earlybird Venture Capital
Earlybird Venture Capital focuses on European technology
companies. Founded in 1997, Earlybird identifies and backs
exceptional early-stage companies on a pan-European basis and
supports them through their growth and development phases –
providing financial resources, strategic support, plus access to an
international network and capital markets. More information:
www.earlybird.com
HV Capital
HV Capital is one of the leading early-stage and growth
investors in Europe, looking for
the next generation of disruptors from every industry, including
FinTech, SaaS, climate tech, and consumer goods. HV Capital
supports startups with ticket sizes ranging from €500,000 to €50
million and is one of the few venture capital firms in Europe that can finance startups through all
growth phases, aiming at partnering with them for long term and
sustained growth. More information: https://www.hvcapital.com/
Lakestar
Lakestar's mission is to find, fund and grow disruptive
businesses that are enabled by technology and founded by
exceptional entrepreneurs in Europe and beyond. Founded by Klaus Hommels, the team's early investments
include Skype, Spotify, Facebook and Airbnb. Since raising its
first fund in 2012, Lakestar manages an aggregated volume of over
€2.8bn across three early stage funds and a growth fund. More
information: https://lakestar.com/
Lombard Odier Investment Managers
At Lombard Odier Investment Managers, we are rethinkers with one
goal in mind. To be an active manager creating sustainable value
for clients through innovative investment solutions. More
information: www.lombardodier.com
Porsche Automobil Holding SE
Porsche SE is a holding company with investments in the areas of
mobility and industrial technology. In particular, it holds the
majority of the ordinary shares in Volkswagen AG and 25 percent
plus one share of the ordinary shares in Porsche AG. More
information: www.porsche-se.com
UVC Partners
UVC Partners is a leading Munich- and Berlin-based early-stage venture capital firm
that invests in European B2B tech start-ups from pre-seed to series
A. The portfolio includes category leaders in deep tech, climate
tech, hard- and software, and mobility with various technologies
and business models. More information: www.uvcpartners.com
Vsquared Ventures
Vsquared backs entrepreneurs who engineer seemingly impossible
solutions to the world's most challenging problems. With our
deep-tech funds, we partner with global leaders such as Group14
Technologies, Isar Aerospace, Zama AI, and IQM Quantum Computers.
We firmly believe that the next-gen champions are emerging out of
Europe's unique market and tech
potential. More information: https://vsquared.vc/
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