Logistics for space travel: Our investment in The Exploration Company

Going to space is more affordable today than ever before — larger, reusable rockets and spacecraft are bringing down the cost of launches, and private launch companies like SpaceX and RocketLab have created a market opportunity for commercial satellites. Many Deep Tech leaders believe space logistics is the industry’s next frontier, encompassing transportation to and from the International Space Station (ISS), and public and private space stations emerging in the next decade, taking cargo (and eventually travelers) to the moon and even Mars. Space stations like the ISS need cargo services to ship food and beverages, supply materials, send research apparatuses, and deliver physical research results back to Earth. 

As the heavy lift launcher market grows, new spacecraft providers have a clear market opportunity—especially for one based in Europe where we believe national security and global competitiveness priorities will afford local companies a unique “right to win” the market. That’s where The Exploration Company (TEC) comes in, and why we’re backing their €150 million Series B to make space travel accessible and (eventually) an everyday reality. 

International space agencies in the West together manage over $4 billion in space transit budget, and European governments in particular are eager to incentivize regional spacecraft development and compete on the international space tech stage. [European space engineers tried building a space cargo capsule in the early 2010s, the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) project, but it was not reusable and was ultimately discontinued.] 

After seven years at Airbus Defense & Space, space engineer Hélène Huby founded TEC in 2021 to make space transit a more accessible reality for humanity. To do that, her Munich, Germany-based team is building Nyx, a reusable and refillable spacecraft that can be launched from any heavy launcher worldwide and can fly to any space station. 

Hélène has a track record of working on sophisticated spacecraft projects, including the European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA’s joint Orion project, as well as the 2010s-era ATV project. Set to launch in 2027, Nyx will be the most affordable space cargo capsule on the market. It will simultaneously have the greatest cargo capacity on the market for spacecraft that ferry goods and people to Earth. Hélène’s team behind Nyx includes technical talent from Airbus and space organizations, including SpaceX, NASA, and Blue Origin.

We’re excited to back Hélène and The Exploration Company team at a time when the tailwinds in space tech are fierce. From Rocket Lab to DroneDeploy, ANYbotics, and Boom Supersonic, Bessemer Venture Partners has a history of frontier aerospace and robotics investing. We make deep tech investments wherever great founders are building around the world, and we’re especially excited to grow our Europe practice (based in London). 

If you want to learn more about our perspective and investments in aerospace, space, or frontier technology, dive into our State of Deep Tech report. You can also explore The XB100, a definitive list of the world’s top 100 private deep technology companies.