Isar Aerospace takes off with $17m series A

Isar Aerospace, a Germany-based low-cost satellite launch services provider, procured €15m ($17m) in series A capital on Monday from investors including Unternehmertum Venture Capital (UVC) Partners.
Airbus Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of aerospace and defence company Airbus, and venture capital firm Earlybird co-led the round, which additionally featured Vito Ventures, Apeiron Investment Group and Bulent Altan, a former executive with aerospace company SpaceX.
UVC Partners is the venture capital affiliate of Technical University of Munich’s tech transfer arm, Unternehmertum.
Founded in March 2018, Isar Aerospace is developing a rocket called Spectrum to deploy and resupply satellite constellations. The technology relies on a propulsion architecture that both lowers emissions and is more cost-efficient than current alternatives.
The company is preparing for a first rocket launch in late 2021. It was formed by three students out of Technical University of Munich’s aerospace working group, Warr.
Isar previously closed a multi-million-dollar seed round in September 2018 that also included UVC Partners, Vito Ventures and Altan as well as another former SpaceX executive, David Giger.
Intergovernmental space exploration organisation European Space Agency had supplied $57,000 in seed funding by August 2018 as part of Isar’s joining of its business incubation centre, though a precise date for the investment could not be confirmed.
Mathieu Costes, partner at Airbus Ventures, said: “We are pleased to entrust [chief executive] Daniel [Metzler] and his outstanding team, bringing impressive new technologies and approaches to the challenges of low Earth orbit, to represent our first deal in Germany.
“Together with our investment round co-leader Earlybird and under the continuing guidance of Bulent Altan we are pleased to help draw together the ecosystems of new space excellence in both Germany and in the wider Airbus universe.”
– Feature image courtesy of Isar Aerospace