Isar Aerospace’s $75m Series B Extension — Forging Europe’s Space Powerhouse
A lot has happened since Isar Aerospace raised Europe’s largest Series B in SpaceTech in December of 2020. Today, we are happy to announce the extension of the company’s Series B by another $75m. The round is led by HV Capital, Lombard Odier and Porsche SE and brings Isar’s total Series B funding to over $165m. We at Earlybird Venture Capital are pumped to continue supporting team Isar and are humbled to play a significant role in this financing round.
Over the last ten months the decline of incumbents has caused access to space to become even more critical for governments and private corporations. Since December 2020, Isar Aerospace doubled their launch LOIs and secured its first down payments even before its initial test flight, planned in H2/2022.
After only eight months since the last investment round, Isar has achieved some huge milestones. Amongst them, closing launch contracts with players such as Airbus Defence and Space Airbus and the German government. Also, Porsche SE joined the round as one of the most relevant global OEMs (Porsche SE owns around 53% of VW — the second largest OEM in the world). This is yet another indicator of the acceleration of market demand for launch services and the manifestation of Isar’s ability to service this need.
With incredible milestones in their rearview mirror, Isar’s approach for the future is sure to secure their position as the European category leader. Looking ahead, Isar Aerospace will use the money to aggressively invest in building the technical infrastructure to launch up to 30 rockets per year by 2025. Within their go-to-market strategy, Isar will focus on reusable rockets/boosters. This essentially means that Isar can re-sure their first stage. This will have a three-folded impact:
🚀Lessening the effects of manufacturing restrictions and creating room for up to 20 additional launches per year
📉COGS will be significantly reduced (estimated to be around 30%)
♻️Reusability reduces the overall environmental footprint of the company
Isar is further investing heavily in automation and optimizing production processes which results in greater mastery of introducing reusable boosters. One example of this is the company’s Manufacturing Execution System (MES), which serves as a base for building a state of the future production process. The system essentially links production and workplaces in such a way that quality and output are automatically optimized. Today, the MES already significantly drives the degree of automation in the rapidly expanding production plant in Ottobrunn. This year alone, Isar plans to grow its production facilities by 50% (up to 2k sqm).
We are so thankful to continue being part of Isar’s success story and are looking forward to the first test launch next year! The team has gone above and beyond in proving their ability to make good use of the investments to date, and will no doubt continue to do so. From day 1, the team has shown their proficiency in combining determination with adaptability, enabling them to achieve their ambitious goals.
HV Capital, Lombard Odier and Porsche SE, welcome on board! Team Isar, we are thrilled to continue to be partnering with you!
If you are also interested in joining the team on their journey into space, take a look at their open job listings, ranging from finance & legal to rocket launch positions.
Do you want to launch your satellite? Reserve your orbital missions now and secure desired launch windows with fixed pricing here.
