$450 million in Series C funding for The Exploration Company

Hamburg – The Explo­ra­tion Company (TEC) has secu­red $450 million in the largest Series C funding round to date for a Euro­pean space company. The round was jointly led by Besse­mer Venture Part­ners, Atomico, and the Scaleup Europe Fund, which is mana­ged by EQT. In addi­tion to Cherry Ventures, other exis­ting inves­tors parti­ci­pa­ted, inclu­ding Balder­ton, Plural, and Red River West, as well as other inves­tors from Europe and the U.S. With this funding round, TEC’s total funding rises to appro­xi­m­ately $680 million. — YPOG advi­sed Cherry Ventures on The Explo­ra­tion Company’s (TEC) $450 million Series C funding round. 

The Explo­ra­tion Company deve­lops reusable space trans­por­ta­tion systems for govern­ment and commer­cial custo­mers. At the heart of its efforts is the Nyx space capsule, which is desi­gned to trans­port cargo to space stati­ons and return it safely to Earth. One plan­ned mission invol­ves docking with the Inter­na­tio­nal Space Station (ISS). In addi­tion, TEC is deve­lo­ping a high-perfor­­mance rocket engine called Storm, which is inten­ded to serve as the basis for a future reusable Euro­pean heavy-lift rocket. 

Accor­ding to its own figu­res, TEC has secu­red contracts and commit­ments tota­ling more than $2 billion with public and private custo­mers world­wide. Its part­ners include, among others, the Euro­pean Space Agency (ESA) and NASA. 

“The Explo­ra­tion Company combi­nes tech­no­lo­gi­cal deve­lo­p­ment with the estab­lish­ment of a Euro­pean space infra­struc­ture. This funding round demons­tra­tes the confi­dence that exis­ting and new inves­tors have in the company’s future deve­lo­p­ment. YPOG is plea­sed to have supported Cherry Ventures in this funding round,” says Dr. Adrian Haase, a part­ner at YPOG. 

About The Explo­ra­tion Company

The Explo­ra­tion Company (TEC) is a global space company with Euro­pean roots that builds space­craft for huma­nity. The company works across natio­nal borders to promote coope­ra­tion in space and deve­lops the full range of space trans­por­ta­tion solutions—including reusable capsu­les and high-thrust engines—to trans­port cargo and, ulti­m­ately, people into space and safely back to Earth. 

TEC was foun­ded in 2021 by Hélène Huby and a team of expe­ri­en­ced aero­space profes­sio­nals and works with space agen­cies and commer­cial opera­tors. The company is backed by leading venture capi­tal firms and is expan­ding with loca­ti­ons in Europe, the United States, and the United Arab Emira­tes. www.exploration.space

Cherry Ventures Advi­sors: YPOG

Dr. Adrian Haase (Lead, Tran­sac­tions), Part­ner, Hamburg
Dr. Miriam Peer (Tran­sac­tions), Asso­ciate, Hamburg
Dr. Gerrit Breet­holt (Tran­sac­tions), Asso­ciate, Hamburg
Dr. Caro­lin Raspé (Compli­ance), Part­ner, Munich

About Cherry Ventures

Cherry Ventures is Europe’s leading early-stage venture capi­tal firm, led by a team of foun­ders and execu­ti­ves with expe­ri­ence buil­ding fast-growing compa­nies such as Spotify, Zalando, and Uber. The firm supports Europe’s boldest founders—often as their first insti­tu­tio­nal investor—and guides them through every criti­cal phase of their company’s deve­lo­p­ment, from go-to-market stra­tegy to scaling the busi­ness to buil­ding the team. We’re looking for foun­ders with a vision to deve­lop revo­lu­tio­nary technologies—whether in AI, health­care, robo­tics, consu­mer goods, or other fields—that will impact society and change the world for the better. Cherry has inves­ted in over 130 compa­nies across Europe during the pre-seed and seed phases, inclu­ding Flix, Auto1, Flaschen­post, Amboss, Manual, Numa, Moss, The Explo­ra­tion Company, Quali­f­yze, Swap, Dash0, Proxima Fusion, and Tacto. Cherry has offices in Berlin, London, and Stockholm. 

About YPOG

YPOG stands for You + Part­ners of Game­ch­an­gers and forward-looking tax and legal advice. The firm advi­ses compa­nies focu­sed on future tech­no­lo­gies with the aim of using change as an oppor­tu­nity and jointly crea­ting opti­mal solu­ti­ons. The YPOG team offers compre­hen­sive exper­tise in the areas of Funds, Tax, Tran­sac­tions, Corpo­rate, Banking, Regu­la­tory + Finance, IP/IT/Data Protec­tion, Liti­ga­tion as well as Corpo­rate Crime + Compli­ance + Inves­ti­ga­ti­ons. YPOG is one of the leading addres­ses in Germany for venture capi­tal, private equity, fund struc­tu­ring and appli­ca­ti­ons of distri­bu­ted ledger tech­no­logy (DLT) in finan­cial services. YPOG employs more than 180 expe­ri­en­ced lawy­ers, tax advi­sors and tax specia­lists as well as a notary in its offices in Berlin, Hamburg, Colo­gne, Munich, Cambridge and London. — www.ypog.law