The Exploration Company (TEC) has raised $450 million in Series C funding, marking the largest-ever Series C announced by a European space company and the largest funding round secured by an EU-headquartered company led by a female founder and CEO.
Founded in 2021 by Hélène Huby and a team of aerospace veterans, TEC is developing reusable spacecraft and propulsion systems designed to make space transportation more accessible. Huby serves as the company’s Founder and CEO and is leading its expansion as it develops a European space transportation platform.
The Series C round was co-led by Bessemer Venture Partners, Atomico and the Scaleup Europe Fund, managed by EQT, with existing investors including Balderton, Plural, Cherry and Red River West also participating. The new funding brings TEC’s total funding secured to approximately $680 million.
A major focus of the investment will be the development of Nyx, TEC’s reusable space capsule. Designed to transport cargo to space stations and return it safely to Earth, Nyx is intended to become the foundation of the company’s reusable space transportation platform, with the potential to eventually carry people.
TEC is also using the funding to accelerate development of Storm, its high-thrust reusable rocket engine, which is intended to support the development of a future European heavy-lift launcher. The company is developing the engine using a full-flow staged combustion cycle.
The company has secured more than $2 billion in contracts and commitments and is working with major institutional and commercial partners, including the European Space Agency and NASA. TEC was also the first European company to sign a Space Act Agreement with NASA.
Before co-founding TEC, Huby held senior operational and strategic roles at Airbus Defence & Space and ArianeGroup, including leadership of the Orion European Service Module programme. She joined Airbus Group in 2013, following earlier roles at digital innovation company faberNovel and France’s Ministry for Research and Higher Education.
Her experience in the European space industry includes roles ranging from Head of Innovation to Vice President of Space Strategy and Vice President of the Orion European Service Module programme. Recent reporting describes her time at Airbus and ArianeGroup as roughly a decade, making her background particularly relevant to TEC’s ambition to build European space transportation capabilities.
The latest funding will support TEC’s expansion across engineering, manufacturing, mission operations and propulsion, while helping the company grow its international workforce and industrial base. The company currently operates across several European countries, with additional operations in the United States and the United Arab Emirates.
The funding also represents a significant milestone for women in the space and deep technology sectors. TEC says the Series C is the largest funding round ever secured by an EU-headquartered company led by a female founder and CEO, placing Huby among a growing group of women leading major companies in highly technical industries.
With $450 million in new funding, TEC is now accelerating its plans to develop reusable spacecraft and propulsion technology as it seeks to establish a major European alternative in the global space transportation market.
