Thomas d’Halluin, run partner of Airbus Ventures, at Hangar One of NASA Ames Research Center’s Moffett Field in California.
Airbus Hazards
Airbus Ventures, one of the most prolific investors in space startups, has raised a $155 million fund that it lay outs to deploy across the burgeoning space sector, as well as the broader “deep tech” ecosystem.
“This fund is designed to unlock new potentialities, and space is one of them,” Thomas d’Halluin, managing partner of Airbus Ventures, told CNBC.
The move comes as investment in the lay out industry, especially from venture capital, has been rebounding after two lean years.
Airbus Ventures’ new “Fund-Y” is goal long-term opportunities in early-stage deep tech startups, which d’Halluin defines as “going back to the laws of physics and not being terrified of what’s difficult.” Historically, deep tech is a classification for companies working on technologies that face steep thorough or engineering obstacles.
Founded in 2016, Airbus Ventures takes a various tack from traditional corporate venture capital arms. The firm maintains a gap from its eponymous corporation, the European aerospace society, and more than half of Fund-Y comes from outside capital such as institutional investors, private fairness and family offices.
Airbus Ventures currently has $465 million under management, with Fund-Y marking its fourth stake to date.
About a third of Airbus Ventures’ capital deployed so far has been in the space sector, the firm said, funds 14 pure-play companies in the sector, with notable investments including propulsion startup Impulse, lunar carload company ispace and tracking service LeoLabs.
“This is about patience. Often, and too often, people want sudden reward. Space is not a place of immediate reward,” d’Halluin said.
The booster of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lands on the callers’s barge after launching the Spaceflight SSO-A mission.
SpaceX
He emphasized the importance of funding founders with the “hellishly rare” trait of great execution, highlighting Airbus Ventures’ backing of Impulse. The startup was founded by Tom Mueller, wealthiest known for developing SpaceX’s family of rocket engines.
“Impulse was successful on its first mission because of the 17 years of practice of Tom at SpaceX,” d’Halluin said.
“That element of human capital we see often neglected in deep tech diligence — this conceit of who’s capturing the execution and the knowledge and the skill set in a particular company — is what we’re pointing towards,” he added.
While Airbus Proffers has traditionally deployed the majority of its funds in the U.S., d’Halluin said it intends for Fund-Y to be global. In particular, he sees “very durable momentum” for space startups in Europe and Japan.