With a $450 million Series C, The Exploration Company (TEC) breaks the glass ceiling twice over: the funding marks the largest round of its kind for a European space company, and the largest ever secured by an EU-headquartered company with a female founder and CEO. It aims to dock Nyx with the ISS, return it safely to Earth, and push its reusable Storm engine toward test.
The round is co-led by Bessemer Venture Partners, Atomico, and the Scaleup Europe Fund, managed by EQT, with participation from TEC’s existing European backers including Balderton, Plural, Cherry and Red River West.
“Everyone on Earth depends on infrastructure in space, yet the ability to reach, supply and return from orbit remains rare,” said Hélène Huby, Founder and CEO of The Exploration Company. “This financing will allow us to execute with urgency: to bring Nyx to the International Space Station and safely back to Earth, while accelerating Storm, the high-thrust propulsion capability Europe needs for its future reusable heavy launcher. We are scaling from Europe with talent, customers and partners from around the world because the next generation of space transportation must be built to serve more nations, industries and people and because our mission is to contribute to build a more collaborative and peaceful future in space.”
Space infrastructure, TEC and AM
Space infrastructure already underpins communications, scientific research, security, and critical services on Earth. For each of these sectors, AM can play a key role in developing critical and non-critical components.
As a matter of fact, TEC has been building its propulsion hardware around AM from the very start. In 2023, it teamed up with LEAP 71 to apply computational engineering to its space engines, using algorithms to generate production-ready parts for industrial 3D printing. A few months later, it turned to TRUMPF’s metal 3D printing capabilities for spacecraft components, with the goal of making its Huracán engine reusable and refuelable in orbit on bio-methane and oxygen.
In 2025, it adopted Solukon’s technology to depowder those printed rocket parts. By the end of that year, TEC expanded its in-house capabilities with the acquisition of aerospace and energy AM service provider Thrustworks Additive Manufacturing GmbH.
With this funding, there is no doubt, we will here more about AM enables them to advance Nyx reusable capsule toward its mission.
The Series C financing will accelerate the development of Storm
TEC’s next strategic capability is Storm, Europe’s first reusable high-thrust rocket engine using a full-flow staged combustion cycle with oxygen and methane as propellants.
Designed to deliver efficiency and thrust currently unmatched in Europe, Storm will provide the propulsion foundation for a future reusable and affordable European super-heavy launcher capable of placing up to 40 tons into low Earth orbit in reusable configuration. The funding will allow TEC to perform a series of tests, ranging from pre-burners tested with a subscale thrust chamber in the next months; an ox-rich power pack test; and a workhorse engine test in the next few years, the company explains.
The financing, which is subject to applicable regulatory approvals, will support continued hiring and industrial scale-up across engineering, manufacturing, mission operations, propulsion and program delivery. TEC employs more than 550 people across Europe, the United States and the United Arab Emirates, bringing together international talent to develop, manufacture and operate its space transportation systems.
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