Last month came the exciting news that an astronaut from Europe – specifically, Germany – will have a seat on an upcoming mission to the Moon. 

The announcement was made at a European Space Agency press conference, where Dorothee Bär, Germany's Federal Minister of Research, said: "We can now, for the very first time, send a European astronaut flying 360,000 kilometres away. This means that a European astronaut will be traveling for approximately three days until for the first time he sees the Earth as a whole. No European has ever seen that before.”

The flight will be part of the NASA-led Artemis program, which intends to return humans to the Moon for the first time since the Apollo missions, ultimately establishing a base there. 

The earmarking of a seat for a German astronaut reflects Germany’s significance to both the European Space Agency (to which it financially contributes more than any other nation) and to the Artemis program itself, with key components of the Artemis spacecraft being assembled at an Airbus factor in Bremen. French and Italian astronauts are also set to fly on later Artemis missions, reflecting the involvement of French and Italian spacetech companies in the assembly of the Lunar Gateway space station, which will serve as an orbiting communications and habitation hub for the Artemis program.

This news underscores just how dynamic the “new space” sector in Europe is right now, with its total market value expected to reach USD 158bn by 2030 at a CAGR of 8.4%. The term “new space” was coined to acknowledge the rapid growth of private spacetech enterprises in a field which was once the sole preserve of government-led programs – what a Cambridge University report has described as the “evolution of space from being the mere theatre for the pursuit of certain public objectives, to being a marketplace where economic value can be generated.” 

Since 2020, the new space sector in Europe has attracted the second-highest share of global VC funding when it comes to upstream spacetech (that is, space hardware like rockets and satellites) after the United States. Across this half-decade period, the United Kingdom has racked up the highest amount in funding within Europe, with Germany and France in second and third place. 

The imperative to stay ahead in this commercial space race – an imperative summed up by a recent report by the UK’s House of Lords bluntly titled “The Space Economy: Act Now or Lose Out” – means investment and M&A activity is to set to gain even more momentum in the immediate future. Let’s look at some of the European players which have been on investors’ radars recently.

In June, French spacetech startup Look Up secured USD 57.6m in Series A funding, a cash injection enabling further development of its network of radars which track objects in low Earth orbit. Co-founded by a retired general who was the first head of French Space Command, its radars and digital data analytics platform are designed to enable governments, military organisations and private satellite operators to track their space assets, allowing for the smoother management of space traffic and mitigating the risks of collision. 

A major milestone for the British new space sector came in May, when Cardiff-based firm Space Forge raised USD 30m in Series A funding, the largest ever such round to be closed by a UK spacetech company. As its name suggests, Space Forge is developing the means to manufacture telecommunications, quantum computing and pharmaceutical materials in space aboard reusable satellites. It intends to leverage the favourable conditions of space – for example, the lower ambient pressure, vastly diminished contamination risks and cold temperatures – to create alloys and semiconductor substrates like diamonds. Its work has highlighted just how significant space will be to industries of all kinds going forwards. 

Another, even bigger investment milestone was crossed in November, when Reflex Aerospace – a German manufacturer of custom-designed satellites for commercial and defence use cases – racked up the largest Series A round in the European spacetech sector to date. The USD 58.4m windfall reflects the recognition across European countries of the importance of strengthening their space ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) sovereignty, with Germany’s defence minister recently declaring that “the conflicts of the future will no longer be limited to the Earth’s surface or the deep sea, they will also be fought openly in orbit”.   

The proliferation of satellites is spiking demand for ground stations which can receive and send data. French startup Skynopy has made its mark by providing an end-to-end communications service which encompasses its own proprietary ground stations, a timeshared antenna system, plus its own digital platform. In June, it received USD 16.2m in investment which is being used to expand its team and facilitate the deployment of its technology, which is designed to accelerate and double the data download from satellites as they pass its facilities’ catchment areas.

One of the most prominent European spacetech companies is German firm Isar Aerospace, which has developed Spectrum, a two-stage orbital launch vehicle intended to carry satellites into orbit. While the first test flight earlier this year was terminated after only 30 seconds, the rocket did achieve successful liftoff – the first such flight by a satellite rocket in Europe. A few months after that, in June, the company secured USD 174m in funding to continue on its journey to becoming a serious rival to SpaceX.

Spacetech is just one of an array of tech sectors we continually monitor here at Hampleton Partners. Whatever your field, if you’re a founder or senior decision maker and would like to introduce your business and discover its M&A market potential, get in touch with our managing partner Dr Jan Eiben.

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