Isar Aerospace raises 270 million euros for global launch expansion
HOUSTON - European launch company Isar Aerospace has raised 270 million euros ($312 million) to support its global expansion as it prepares for its next launch attempt.
The Munich-based company announced June 9 it closed a Series D round featuring new investors Island Green Capital and Molten Ventures. Several existing investors, including HV Capital, Lakestar and UVC Partners, with co-investor KfW Capital, also participated in the round.
Isar said the funding will enable the company to expand production of its Spectrum small launch vehicle at a factory near Munich, with a goal of producing 40 vehicles a year. The company currently has 450 to 500 people working there and at its launch site, Josef Wiedemann, sales director at Isar Aerospace, said during a May 27 panel discussion at the SmallSat Europe conference.
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"One rocket is not enough. You need it industrialized," he said, particularly to meet growing defense demands for launch. "You need it in serial production."
The company is also looking to expand beyond its home base in Europe. The company currently launches from Andøya Spaceport in Norway but announced May 26 a letter of intent with Canadian company Maritime Launch Services to use that company's planned Spaceport Nova Scotia.
"Given strong demand from nations globally to deliver an integrated launch system for assured access to space, additional sites worldwide are under negotiation," Isar said in its statement about the funding round.
"Space is no longer a frontier; it is the infrastructure of national power," Daniel Metzler, chief executive of Isar, said in the statement. "With this strategic backing, we are expanding access to space for nations worldwide, delivering an orbital launch system at scale for government and commercial customers."
Isar sees new opportunities for defense customers in particular as European governments increase spending on military space activities, such as the German military's commitment last year to spend 35 billion euros over five years on space.
"It's time now to start and industrialize," Wiedemann said of that growing launch demand. "To really scale, my message is the time is now, and it's good news on the one hand, but on the other hand, I'm really convinced we need to further accelerate in the execution."
Isar Aerospace has performed one launch of Spectrum, designed to place up to a metric ton into low Earth orbit. That launch, in March 2025 from Andøya, malfunctioned shortly after liftoff, with the rocket falling into waters adjacent to the launch pad.
The company had planned a second Spectrum launch in January but postponed it because of technical issues. A March 25 launch attempt was scrubbed when a boat entered restricted waters, preventing the launch from taking place within the launch window. An early April launch was called off because of a leak in a composite-overwrapped pressure vessel in the rocket.
In the announcement of the funding round, Isar said it is targeting a launch between June 15 and 21, pending weather and range availability. The launch, a qualification mission for the rocket, will carry five cubesats and one hosted payload sponsored by the European Space Agency's Boost! program.
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