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Space companies are attracting hundreds of millions in new investment as startups race to scale and governments seek alternatives to dominant U.S. players such as Elon Musk's SpaceX.
A string of new funding rounds, including a 300 million euro ($346 million) raise by satellite manufacturer Open Cosmos announced Monday, is putting fresh capital behind companies seeking to grab a bigger share of the fast-growing commercial space economy.
Open Cosmos prioritized European investors aligned with its purpose, CEO Rafel Jordà Siquier told CNBC in an interview. The company said it would use the oversubscribed funding round to build satellite infrastructure, connectivity and real-time intelligence for Europe.
The company is raising more capital because of the number of opportunities in space, despite having been profitable for five consecutive years, Jordà said.
Space demand means 'there needs to be multiple companies'
"There need to be multiple companies, and they will be emerging from everywhere, from the U.S., from Europe, from China, from all over the place," he added. "It's very unlikely that a single company can serve all of that global growth."
Open Cosmos' raise comes after a flurry of funding announcements in the last two weeks. The Exploration Company announced a $450 million Series C. Spanish rocket company PLD Space added 108 million euros to its Series C, taking the round to 288 million euros. German rocket startup HyImpulse raised more than 50 million euros in new equity through an extension of its Series A.
Also this month, Marlan Space and Loft Orbital announced a $1 billion program to build a 50-satellite AI-enabled constellation, alongside partners including French AI firm Mistral, and Amazon Leo ordered an additional six launches from Europe's Arianespace.
Europe's space ambitions reached a milestone earlier this month when German startup Isar Aerospace became the first commercial European company to put satellites into orbit. The space startup raised 270 million euros in June to scale production and expand its launch network.
Yet, the burst of European investment comes against the backdrop of a funding gap compared with the U.S. The OECD estimates that 67% of recipients of private space investment in 2025 were U.S.-based, compared with 12.8% in Europe.
U.S.-based rocket startup Stoke Space alone raised $1 billion earlier this month to accelerate development of its reusable Nova launch vehicle, highlighting the deeper pools of capital available to American space companies.
The U.S. public space budget stood at around $77 billion in 2024, according to the Space Foundation. The European Space Policy Institute estimated this was roughly five times Europe's.
Closing the gap with SpaceX
While Europe has increased its launch cadence in 2026, it is still dwarfed by SpaceX, which operates its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets and conducts frequent launches for its Starlink constellation and other customers.
Open Cosmos has launched satellites with SpaceX and Rocket Lab as well as European provider Arianespace, and has agreements with Indian and Japanese launch providers, Jordà told CNBC.
The International Space Summit hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris last week also highlighted political tensions that could complicate Europe's efforts to close the space gap with the U.S.
European Commissioner for Defence and Space Andrius Kubilius welcomed additional investment, but warned that it could undermine Europe's ambitions if countries used it to pursue national strategies at the expense of greater coordination.
