German launch startup Isar Aerospace has closed a $75 million Series B funding round led in part by a holding group that owns several luxury car brands including Porsche, Bentley, Bugatti, and Lamborghini.
Isar is developing its two-stage Spectrum rocket which is capable of deploying up to 700 kilograms of payload to sun-synchronous orbit. The company is expected to make significant use of automation when manufacturing to reduce launch costs. Spectrum is expected to make its debut in 2022.
The $75 million in Series B funding round was announced on July 28. According to Isar, the funding will be utilised to expand its manufacturing and further develop its launch capabilities. A portion of the funding will also be used to explore reusability.
To date, Isar Aerospace has raised a total of $180 million. This represents an interest in the European launch market not seen since the 90s.
“As the most well-funded space start-up in the European Union, we are now at the forefront to provide flexible and cost-efficient access to this platform,” said Isar CEO Daniel Metzler. “For us at Isar Aerospace, this funding means even more firepower to invest in our infrastructure and further build on our leading position.”
The latest round of funding was led by Porsche Automobil Holding SE along with HV Capital and banking group Lombard Odier. Existing investors Lakestar, Earlybird Venture Capital, Vsquared Ventures, UVC Partners and Apeiron Investment Group were also part of the German launch startup’s latest funding round.
Isar has already started to grow its launch manifest having secure launch contracts from Airbus Defence and Space and the German space agency DLR, which it secured by winning a European Space Agency-sponsored microlauncher competition.
