Belgian satellite manufacturer Aerospacelab has accelerated its next stage of growth with a successful raise of €40 million. The Series B round is co-led by Airbus Ventures and XAnge, a leading European investor in early-stage startups. Additional investors in the round include Octave & Miroslaw Klaba, SRIW, Noshaq, BNP Paribas Private Equity, Sambrinvest, and Belaero. Since its inception in 2018, Aerospacelab has raised a total of €60m.
“With its clear and significant potential to positively impact both European and global markets, Aerospacelab sparked our immediate interest and attention,” remarks Airbus Ventures Partner Mat Costes. “They won our support by demonstrating how they can substantially improve decision-making processes across a robust sequence of varied sectors and are uniquely positioned to provide geospatial intelligence to private companies and governments alike. To the entire Aerospacelab team we offer a warm welcome as the newest members of our worldwide system of entrepreneurs spearheading the advance of our fund’s portfolio companies across the planetary system.”
Supported by an ambitious, vertically-integrated approach and dedicated to making geospatial intelligence actionable and affordable, Aerospacelab is powered by proprietary satellite data and enabled by its own satellites. Their constellations provide real-time content for a wide range of applications, ranging from defense and security, to civil sector applications including environmental, commercial insurance, and economic intelligence.
“2021 was a fantastic year for Aerospacelab, marking the launch of our first satellite and demonstrating the efficacy of our technology in space,” notes Benoît Deper, Founder and CEO of Aerospacelab, who presented the company’s industrial roadmap during a keynote at the #SpaceSummit, alongside European Space Agency Director General Josef Aschbacher, in Toulouse, with the French Presidency of the European Union and European Commission in attendance.
“Aerospacelab is a prime example of how European talents can realize important space projects in Europe. I am also glad to see that the work of ESA is contributing to this success. I warmly congratulate Aerospacelab on its successful fundraising,” comments ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher.
Géraldine Naja, as Director of Commercialisation, Industry and Procurement, adds: “We warmly congratulate Aerospacelab on its latest fundraising and fully expect to seek continued inspiration and advice from Benoît and the team as they scale.”
The company’s latest funding will ramp up satellite production capacity, deploy multiple constellations to establish an intra-daily monitoring of the Earth’s surface, and implement geospatial data fusion analytics capabilities.
“With this round, we are eager to continue to deepen our relationship with one of our earliest investors, XAnge, and thrilled to see Airbus Ventures enter our cap table, collectively confirming our ability to impact the space ecosystem and earn even greater opportunities in the European and global markets,” Deper adds.
Since 2018, Aerospacelab has grown substantially, with two offices and over 110 full-time employees, rapidly positioning itself as a leader in geospatial intelligence and small satellites platforms.
“We have followed Aerospacelab since its very first steps. We’ve confidently believed from the very beginning their serious potential, as we led their first fundraising in 2018,” explains Guilhem de Vregille, Partner at XAnge. “Today, we are especially pleased to be co-leading the second round with Airbus Ventures, and we are happy to continue to support Aerospacelab’s bright future.”
Nicolas Dhaene, Investment Manager at the SRIW (Regional Investment Company of Wallonia in Belgium) concludes: “Aerospacelab is an excellent example of the extent of Wallonia’s potential when its talent is matched by entrepreneurial spirit and ambition. As an early-stage investor, we are proud of the company’s achievements to date and happy to further support its exciting industrial and technological roadmap within this strategic sector.”
