Money Is Flowing Into Space Start-Ups. Some Investors See a SpaceX Effect.

Europe is desperate to catch up in the space race.Even before SpaceX’s gargantuan initial public offering in June, European leaders were worried that the continent’s space sector was falling behind the United States in science and in funding.Another big worry: Europe had become too dependent on Elon Musk’s rocket company to commercialize space.But in recent days, a string of deals has begun to shift the narrative.

On Monday, Open Cosmos, a satellite maker with a headquarters in Britain, announced that it had raised 300 million euros (about $346 million) from mostly European backers.The investment comes after the Exploration Company’s $450 million funding round — one of the European space industry’s biggest ever.(The company, a European start-up, competes directly with Mr.

Musk’s SpaceX in the reusable rocket market.)Investors have put more than $16.5 billion globally into space tech start-ups so far this year, according to PitchBook, roughly on track to nearly double last year’s haul.The pace of sector funding is growing even faster for European space-focused start-ups, PitchBook data shows.Open Cosmos plans to use its new capital to expand its satellite manufacturing abilities and accelerate a push into satellite data services.

The round was led by Lightrock, a London-based venture capital firm, and ETF Partners.Also participating were Institut Català de Finances, a public development bank in Spain; Entrepreneurs First, a so-called start-up accelerator; and two international pension funds.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

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