NATO is investing in another German start-up via its venture capital fund for the promotion of dual-use technologies. The 1 billion euro NATO Innovation Fund is providing funding to the Munich-based rocket manufacturer Isar Aerospace, the company said. In the latest Series C financing round, the company has raised an additional 65 million euros, bringing the total raised in the round to 220 million euros. In addition to the NATO Innovation Fund, the European family office G3T, the 10x Group and Besant Capital also participated.

Isar Aerospace's existing investors include Earlybird, Bayern Kapital, Airbus Ventures and the Swiss venture capital heavyweight Lakestar – whose founder and CEO Klaus Hommels is also Chairman of the NATO Innovation Fund. However, he is not part of the investment committee and therefore does not make any investment decisions, the company said in response to an enquiry. Isar Aerospace did not disclose the amount of the NIF's share of the funding.

Isar Aerospace develops and builds launch vehicles for sending satellites into orbit. The aerospace company SpaceX, founded by Elon Musk, is regarded as a role model for the company. According to Bloomberg, SpaceX has a valuation of around 200 billion dollars.

In Germany, in addition to Isar Aerospace, the Augsburg-based Rocket Factory and Hyimpulse from Neuenstadt am Kocher (Heilbronn district) are also working on developing their own launch vehicles. The need for this is likely to increase significantly in view of advancing digitalisation – at its second Space Congress in autumn 2023, the German Aerospace Industries Association said that, according to forecasts, around 2,000 satellites would be launched into space every year by 2030.

Isar Aerospace plans to start building a series production facility in the municipality of Vaterstetten this year. In future, up to 40 „Spectrum“ launch vehicles are to be manufactured there each year. The first flight of such a rocket is scheduled to take place in the second half of 2024 from the first European spaceport in Andøya in northern Norway. The station was inaugurated in November last year.

„Access to space is crucial for the technological sovereignty of Europe and the UK,“ said Andrea Traversone, Managing Partner at the Nato Innovation Fund. „Space technologies like Isar Aerospace's offer huge potential and allow us to shape a safe and prosperous future for generations to come.“ The Munich-based start-up has already secured a total of 400 million euros in funding. According to its own information, this makes it the best-funded independent New Space company in Europe.

NATO launched its innovation fund in June 2022. Currently, 24 partner nations are participating in the vehicle.

The alliance recently announced its first investment in Germany. This is the Munich-based robot manufacturer Arx Robotics, which – with the participation of Nato – raised 9 million euros in a seed financing round. The self-propelled and unmanned robots from Arx can be used in military operations to help track down enemies, or transport injured soldiers, among other things. Money from the fund also went to the British start-up Icomat, which produces lightweight construction materials for spacecraft, cars and the defence sector, to the computer chip company Fractile, also based in the UK, and to the Welsh space company Space Forge.