The Exploration Company Raises $160M As It Looks To Compete With SpaceX

The Exploration Company locked up a $160 million Series B as the European startup looks to develop its own space capsule to rival SpaceX’s Dragon.

The new round was co-led by Balderton Capital and Plural and brings TEC’s total funding to nearly $230 million, per the company.

“Over the past 12 months, we have hit major operational and financial milestones and signed significant service contracts with both space agencies and commercial clients,” said CEO and co-founder Hélène Huby in a statement. “This new funding is the next step in scaling up our ambitions.”

The startup will use the fresh cash to develop and test the next generation of its space capsule, Nyx — a reusable and in-orbit refillable spacecraft that can be launched from any heavy launcher and fly to any space station. The company says its capsule will be able to take both people and cargo to space and back. That would make it a competitor to SpaceX and a few other companies specializing in such transport.

Funding out of this world

TEC’s raise is just the latest big round for a space startup this year. So far in 2024, space startups have raised $7.7 billion in 338 rounds, per Crunchbase data. That already surpasses last year’s total of $6.4 billion in 442 deals.

Just last week, Cedar Park, Texas-based Firefly Aerospace, a space transportation startup, raised a $175 million Series D led by RPM Ventures at a valuation of more than $2 billion.

While the total dollar number increased from last year, it is still down from 2021 and 2022, when space startups raised more than $12 billion and $9 billion, respectively.