NewSpace Capital raises €100m
December 16, 2022
By Chris Forrester
NewSpace Capital, a space-focused private equity firm based in Luxembourg, says it has reached an important milestone with its first closing of over €100 million in funding to instil a strong growth momentum in the New Space sector.
The company says it is the first global space fund focusing on the growth stage of space enterprises, and goes beyond existing early-stage venture capital funding and thus adds a differentiating element and new layer to financing and investing in the space industry.
It has some experienced senior individuals involved, led by Daniel Biedermann with 36 years in the space industry. He spent 19 of those years with SES leading the operator’s Strategy and M&A teams. He is joined by other former SES players, including Padraig McCarthy, former CFO at SES (23 years) and four years with NewSpace.
Francois Dubreucq is CFO at NewSpace and helped by 14 years working within the space sector and at SES in senior finance and corporate development roles. Martin Halliwell spent 33 years with SES, and was CTO at SES from 2011 to 2020.
NewSpace Capital has already executed three successful investments:
- In September 2020, it invested €19 million as a lead investor in the C Series funding round of ICEYE, a world leading Earth observation satellite business based in Helsinki.
- In November 2021, it invested €5 million as lead investor into Kayross, a world leading climate tech space analytics company based in Paris.
- In December 2022, it invested €15 million as the lead investor in the series C round of Cailabs, a French deep-tech company enabling revolutionary photonic solutions for industrial and communication applications.