The Exploration Company (TEC) has closed a $450 million Series C funding round, marking one of the largest scale-up fundraises in the European space industry to date. The capital will support the development of the company’s Nyx cargo reentry vehicle and its Storm reusable rocket engine.
What Happened
Led by Bessemer Venture Partners, Atomico, and the Scaleup Europe Fund managed by EQT, the round brings TEC’s total financing to approximately $680 million since its founding in 2021. Existing investors including Balderton, Plural, Cherry Ventures, and Red River West also participated. The new funds will facilitate hiring across engineering, manufacturing, mission operations, and propulsion technology in the US, Europe, and UAE.
TEC plans to use the capital to advance Nyx’s first mission to the International Space Station, which is currently planned for 2028. The company has previously flown two subscale demo flights with mixed results. The first, Mission Bikini, launched on an Ariane 6 rocket in July 2024 but did not deploy after the upper stage failed to perform a deorbit burn. The second, Mission Possible, launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 in June 2025 and successfully reentered the atmosphere with communications established during descent, though contact was lost minutes before splashdown.
Why It Matters
Despite the setbacks in demo flights, TEC has secured more than $2 billion in contracts since its inception, including awards from the European Space Agency for LEO cargo-return services. The company has also established agreements with Axiom Space, Starlab, and Vast to resupply commercial space stations once they are operational. The funding round underscores strong market demand for orbital logistics even amid technical growing pains.
The investment also targets the development of the Storm engine, a full-flow, staged-combustion-cycle engine powered by liquid oxygen and bio-methane. Storm is designed to provide reusable heavy-lift launch capabilities, targeting 40 tons to low Earth orbit. This development aligns with Europe’s broader effort to establish sovereign access to orbit. The new capital will allow TEC to conduct sub-scale tests with the aim of progressing to full-scale engine testing in the coming years.
The Bottom Line
The Exploration Company’s $450 million raise highlights significant investor confidence in its dual-track strategy of orbital cargo return and heavy-lift propulsion, despite mixed results from early demonstration missions.