Main Engine Cut OffIsar Aerospace Raises $91 Million More, Says They’re Funded Through First Launch
Jeff Foust, for SpaceNews:
German startup Isar Aerospace announced Dec. 9 it raised a 75 million euro ($91 million) Series B round. European venture capital fund Lakestar led the round with participation from Earlybird and Vsquared Ventures, as well as existing investors.
Isar, which raised $17 million in a Series A round a year ago, is working on a launch vehicle called Spectrum designed to place up to 1,000 kilograms in low Earth orbit. The company announced in October an agreement with the French space agency CNES to conduct launches from the spaceport in French Guiana.
For a variety of reasons, I have not been closely following most of the European small launchers in development. But Isar says they’re funded through first launch with this round, and they have an agreement to launch from Kourou rather than an as-of-yet nonexistent launch site in Europe, so they’ve got my attention.
They’re still a few years out, have shared only somewhat vague details about Spectrum, and don’t appear to have much hardware together, though.