The Exploration Company Raises $160M in Series B Funding

The Exploration Company announced a $160M Series B financing round, a significant milestone for the team’s growing ambitions in space exploration. The Company is headquartered in Munich, with offices in Bordeaux, Houston, and Turin. The new round provides significant growth capital to build a scalable, reusable, cost-effective, and, most importantly, independent space transport solution.

It has been a privilege for Promus Ventures to back Founder and CEO Hélène Huby and the now 200+ employee team since 2021, when we led their Seed round and joined the Board. Since then, we have invested in each subsequent round, including this new financing. Balderton Capital and Plural led the round, including new investors Bessemer Venture Partners and others.

Turning Vision into Reality: A Spacecraft Like No Other

At Promus Ventures, we thrive on supporting pioneers — those audacious enough to tackle humanity’s biggest challenges. One can see the team’s early ambition by reading our first “Why We Invested” article on The Exploration Company in November 2021. It is great to see such progress in building a spacecraft that will hopefully be the backbone of Europe’s and the world’s space infrastructure.

Designed with modularity in mind, the Company’s spacecraft, Nyx, is a fresh take on how a spacecraft can operate. By combining reusability with customizable payload capabilities, The Exploration Company is set to cater to various missions, from resupplying orbiting stations to supporting lunar exploration. This Series B financing round will enable the team to continue executing their Mission Possible demonstrator (scheduled to fly in 2025) and their maiden Nyx Earth mission in 2028.

What stands out about The Exploration Company is its technical acumen and ability to act as a unifying force within Europe’s fragmented space ecosystem. Their partnerships span a network of space agencies, startups, and established players, signaling their potential to lead the continent into a new era of collaboration and competition on the global stage.

To Infinity and Beyond

As the company continues executing its vision, we congratulate Hélène and the team on this new funding. We look forward to continuing our partnership as the company enters its next growth phase!