The Exploration Company raises $450M to rival SpaceX
Original: The Exploration Company nabs $450 million to challenge SpaceX
Why This Matters
Growing demand for non-SpaceX orbital access is fueling billion-dollar investment in reusable spacecraft on both sides of the Atlantic.
European space startup The Exploration Company (TEC) has raised $450 million in a Series C round — the largest ever by a European space company — to develop reusable spacecraft and challenge SpaceX's dominance in low-Earth orbit launches.
The Exploration Company (TEC), headquartered across Germany, France, Luxembourg, Spain, and Italy, announced a $450 million Series C round, co-led by Atomico and the EQT-managed Scaleup Europe Fund alongside Bessemer Venture Partners. Bessemer partner Alex Ferrara will join TEC's board. CEO Hélène Huby, a French national with 20 years at Airbus and ArianeGroup, said the funds will support TEC's reusable heavy-lift launcher and its Nyx cargo-and-crew capsule, comparable to SpaceX's Dragon. TEC has over $2 billion in contracts and commitments, with 10 Nyx missions already booked. Institutional partners include ESA and NASA. The company targets docking Nyx with the International Space Station and returning it safely to Earth by November 2028. Additional funding will support Storm, a rocket engine development program. Sovereignty concerns in Europe are driving interest in non-SpaceX alternatives, as SpaceX's Falcon rockets are reportedly increasingly reserved for Starlink satellites. U.S. rival Stoke Space is concurrently raising a $1 billion Series E, signaling broad investor appetite for reusable spacecraft globally.