EIF invests EUR 60 million in new fund of Alpine Space Ventures

Munich — InvestEU: EIF provi­des EUR 60 million for the Euro­pean NewSpace Fund Alpine Space Ventures. Alpine Space Ventures invests in the fast-growing satel­lite market. The invest­ment under­pins Euro­pean support for the growing NewSpace commer­cial ecosys­tem. The EIF invest­ment is supported by the EU space initia­tive CASSINI and the InvestEU program, as well as by the German ERP funds. Fund recei­ves addi­tio­nal invest­ment from SpaceX execu­ti­ves to advance NewSpace innovations

The Euro­pean Invest­ment Fund (EIF) is inves­t­ing €60 million in Alpine Space Ventures (ASV), a German-based venture capi­tal fund focu­sed on the NewSpace sector. Funding is supported by InvestEU and the Euro­pean Space Program’s CASSINI Invest­ment Faci­lity, as well as the German government’s Euro­pean Reco­very Program (ERP).

With this invest­ment, ASV’s commit­ted capi­tal exceeds the 100 million euro mark and brings the fund closer to its target of 160 million euros, which is expec­ted to be reached this year.

The term “NewSpace” refers to the private space indus­try, as oppo­sed to the tradi­tio­nal, mostly gover­n­­ment-run space agen­cies. NewSpace ventures span areas from private laun­ches to high-speed Inter­net constel­la­ti­ons, Earth obser­va­tion satel­li­tes, and ground or space equip­ment for track­ing space debris. In Europe, the NewSpace sector consists of a growing number of private compa­nies and start-ups deve­lo­ping commer­cial NewSpace technologies.

ASV is rapidly beco­ming one of the leading NewSpace funds in Europe. The fund focu­ses on the entire value chain of satel­lite constel­la­ti­ons and Earth obser­va­tion. To date, ASV has alre­ady inves­ted in four compa­nies: small satel­lite manu­fac­tu­rer Reflex Aero­space, elec­tric propul­sion company Morpheus Space, carbon compo­si­tes expert Black­wave, and Source Energy, a provi­der of inte­gra­ted energy solu­ti­ons for spacecraft.

The fund was foun­ded by Bülent Altan and Joram Voelk­lein. Bülent Altan is co-CEO of laser commu­ni­ca­ti­ons company Myna­ric and is expec­ted to join the Super­vi­sory Board soon (subject to share­hol­der appr­oval). He was VP Avio­nics, Guidance, Navi­ga­tion Control at SpaceX, where he was also chief engi­neer for Star­link, SpaceX’s satel­lite Inter­net constel­la­tion now opera­ting in 53 count­ries. Joram Voelk­lein, a German entre­pre­neur and tech inves­tor, alre­ady played a crucial role in funding Munich-based NewSpace company Myna­ric from its first round of finan­cing to its IPO in 2017.

The Euro­pean NewSpace ecosys­tem is gaining momen­tum. For exam­ple, German small launch provi­der Isar Aero­space recently successfully closed a record 155 million Euro Series C finan­cing round. Altan and Voelk­lein were both foun­ding inves­tors in the company and parti­ci­pa­ted in seve­ral rounds of finan­cing before forming Alpine Space Ventures. Altan is also chair­man of the company’s board of directors.