European Union Aims to set up Funds for European Space Startups

Aerospace and Defense Review | Thursday, January 23, 2020

USD 110.5 million will be invested in a new program, the InnovFin Space Equity Pilot. The new program is being developed jointly by the European Commission and the European Investment Fund (EIF).

FREMONT, CA: The European Union is planning to invest a sum of USD 222 million to support Europe's Space Agency. The investment will be shelled out partly in the form of a loan to help fund the development of Ariane 6, and partly as an investment towards space startups. The space startup funds will be provided jointly by the European Commission and the European Investment Bank Group, in what is being termed as a game-changer for Europe's space industry.

Half of the amount will be loaned out to Ariane Group to help the company pay for its share of the costs of developing the Ariane 6 rocket. The loan will support an innovative financing structure that will be contingent on Ariane 6’s commercial success, once operational. "The loan will help finance facilities in France and Germany that will be used to produce and launch the rocket. The financing fosters technological expertise allowing the European launcher industry to remain always at the leading edge, becoming even more innovative and environmentally responsible," said André Hubert Roussel, chief executive of ArianeGroup.

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The remaining sum of USD 110.5 million will be invested in a new program, the InnovFin Space Equity Pilot. The new program is being developed jointly by the European Commission and the European Investment Fund (EIF). The new program aims to invest in European venture funds that support startups in the space sector. Italian firm Primo Space is one of the startups benefiting from the program. The startup is raising USD 88.4 million for backing early-stage companies seeking to commercialize space technologies. However, the agencies have not disclosed the amount of investment being made in the startup.

"The first-ever space equity pilot and our first fund, based in Italy, are a giant leap for the EIF in this sector," Alain Godard, chief executive of the EIF. "Attracting more private capital to this sector enables us together to drive forward Europe's space ambitions." In recent years, European space startups have raised the issue of lack of availability of venture financing in the field, which is in contrast with the growing interests in space among venture capital funds in the United States and China. This has forced European companies to either look for alternative forms of financing or work with the U.S. and other non-European funds.

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