Three years after its creation, in 2021, the Franco-German company The Exploration Company (TEC) has just completed the largest fundraising in “European newspace”, the ecosystem where space start-ups operate. Announced Monday, November 18, this financing amounting to 150 million euros will allow it to accelerate the development of its reusable vessel, called Nyx, in reference to the Greek goddess of the creation of the cosmos.
This operation carried out jointly by Balderton Capital and Plural was subscribed to by private funds and also, for the first time, by two sovereign funds, one French, French Tech Souveraineté, linked to the France 2030 plan, the other German, DeepTech & Climate Fund (DTCF). A strategic investment made in equal parts, because this capsule is a missing link in the European space chain, the Americans having Dragon, manufactured by SpaceX, the Russians Soyuz and the Chinese Shenzhou.
“Each of the States will be invited to the company’s board of directorsspecifies Hélène Huby, the founder of TEC. From the start, I wanted the company to be binational by establishing it in Bordeaux and Munich, because, to carry out such an ambitious project, other countries must be involved. This is what we have just done by settling in Italy. » At the end of this fundraising, 98% of the shareholders remain European. “Unheard of at this level of funding”appreciates the leader.
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Thanks to this windfall, the company will launch, in 2028, its first Nyx Earth capsule, which will transport cargo to the International Space Station (ISS) at the request of the European Space Agency (ESA). To reach this four-meter-wide vessel weighing thirteen tons and capable of carrying four tons of freight uphill and three tons downhill, progression is done in stages. She started with a small model, “Bikini”. This demonstrator measuring 60 centimeters by 80 centimeters weighing 35 kilograms was one of the passengers on the first Ariane-6 flight in July.
Arrival of new countries
“Bikini” follows “Mission possible”, a capsule measuring 2.50 meters in diameter, much larger (1.6 tonnes), which will carry 300 kg of freight entrusted by seventeen customers to carry out tests in space. During the summer of 2025, an American SpaceX rocket will put the spacecraft into orbit, which will operate there for three hours before returning to Earth.
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