探险公司押注欧洲愿为SpaceX的对手买单；1.5亿欧元B轮，20亿美元估值谈判

做的是什么生意

Builds and operates Nyx, a modular, reusable orbital cargo capsule — a European counterpart to SpaceX's Dragon — designed to resupply space stations and return cargo to Earth.

启动资金：Total raised near €216M as of the November 2024 Series B, led by Balderton Capital and Plural with Bessemer, Bayern Kapital, NGP Capital, French Tech Souveraineté and Germany's DTCF.

起因

Hélène Huby, who spent seven years at Airbus Defence & Space working on Orion and ATV, founded The Exploration Company in 2021 in Munich to give Europe its own reusable capsule. Bessemer, Balderton and Plural backed the thesis that European governments would prioritize locally built space logistics.

经过

In July 2024, the Bikini reentry demonstrator flew on Ariane 6's maiden flight, but an upper-stage anomaly stranded it and prevented the reentry test. In November 2024 TEC closed a €150M Series B — Europe's largest space-tech round — with French and German sovereign funds co-investing for the first time. In June 2025, Mission Possible launched on a SpaceX rideshare, reached orbit and survived reentry before losing contact minutes before splashdown, a result the company called a partial success. It holds a ~$770M backlog with Axiom Space, Vast, Starlab and ESA, and was the first European company to sign a NASA Space Act Agreement.

结果

Still scaling: as of July 2026 TEC is negotiating a raise of at least $300M at a $2B+ valuation per the FT, with EQT's Scaleup Europe Fund reported near a commitment, to fund Nyx's first full-size flight and ESA cargo missions.

可借鉴之处

主权需求可以替代消费者需求：TEC将欧洲缺乏货物返回能力转化为国家安全议题，从而在完整回收太空舱之前，将公司估值推向20亿美元。