The Exploration Company

Space · Aerospace · Deep Tech

Funding

The Exploration Company raises $450M in Europe's biggest space Series C

The round funds a reusable capsule and engine meant to give Europe independent cargo access to the ISS without relying on American rockets.

• The Exploration Company closed a $450M Series C co-led by Bessemer Venture Partners, Atomico, and EQT's Scaleup Europe Fund, bringing its total funding to roughly $680M.
• Founded in 2021 by CEO Hélène Huby, a former Airbus space executive, TEC builds reusable capsules and rocket engines to carry cargo to orbit and back.
• Proceeds will advance Nyx, a reusable capsule slated to dock with the ISS, and Storm, a liquid oxygen-methane engine unveiled in June for a future European heavy-lift launcher.
• TEC says it holds over $2 billion in contracts and commitments, split roughly between public programs like the European Space Agency and private cargo-logistics customers, and employs more than 550 people.
• Nyx would compete with SpaceX's Dragon and Northrop Grumman's Cygnus, the two vehicles currently handling ISS cargo runs for NASA.
• The round underscores Europe's push to build sovereign space-logistics capability rather than depend on U.S. providers for station resupply, part of a broader 2026 wave of European launch investment.