European Space Agency
8-10 rue Mario Nikis, Paris, Ile-de-France, 75738, France
Overview
The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. ESA is an international organisation with 22 Member States. By coordinating the financial and intellectual resources of its members, it can undertake programmes and activities far beyond the scope of any single European country. ESA’s budget for 2017 is €5.75 billion. ESA operates on the basis of geographical return, i.e. it invests in each Member State, through industrial contracts for space programmes, an amount more or less equivalent to each country’s contribution. There are around 2200 staff working for ESA, from all the Member States and include scientists, engineers, information technology specialists and administrative personnel.
- Total investments
- 25
- Lead investments
- 11
- Investments · 12mo
- 5
- Active investors
- 7
Sector focus
- Transportation
Investment portfolio
- Maple Aviation
Participated · Seed · Jun 2026
Maple Aviation develops unmanned aerial vehicle technology to transport medication and laboratory samples between hospitals and laboratories. Founded in 2022 and based in Ottobrunn, Germany, the company is building a medical cargo drone network focused on time-sensitive healthcare deliveries. It plans to move into commercial deployment and scale its logistics network to offer faster, more efficient transfers of medical supplies. Financially, Maple Aviation recently closed a €4 million seed round from a syndicate of investors and also received grant funding from the Regierung von Oberbayern and the European Space Agency. The company’s immediate use of funds is to accelerate rollout and operational readiness of its healthcare-focused drone services.
- Earth Blox
Participated · Equity · Mar 2026
Earth Blox operates a platform that combines satellite, environmental and portfolio data with AI-powered analysis to quantify how nature loss and climate hazards affect financial performance. The company serves customers including global banks, consumer brands, energy companies and agribusinesses and works to integrate nature and climate insights into capital allocation and risk management. Founded in 2019 and based in Edinburgh, Earth Blox has run large-scale assessments such as a collaboration with Lloyds Banking Group that analysed 5.1 million hectares of farmland. The business recently appointed Ben Matthews as Director of Nature and Climate to expand its analytics capabilities. The company raised €6.9 million in the latest round to grow headcount, accelerate product development and expand platform capabilities. Archangels remains a backer alongside new lead PXN Ventures, Scottish Enterprise and funding from the European Space Agency.
- Leasi
Led · Grant · Mar 2026
Leasi offers a control-center platform that lets contractors and equipment rental companies monitor, coordinate and maintain their machine fleets in real time. The company has expanded to nearly 1,000 users across three countries and serves customers such as Skanska and NRC Group. Originating from NTNU's entrepreneurship school, Leasi previously participated in ESA's BIC incubator and has raised NOK 12.6 million in an earlier investment round featuring Startuplab, Skanska and Gnist Capital. With the new ESA ARTES 4.0 grant, Leasi plans to enhance its data-capture and standardization capabilities to ingest more diverse data sources and enable cross-organization sharing. Leadership is headed by CEO and co-founder Scott A. Bekke, and the company is pursuing European scaling supported by the ESA funding.
- SWISSto12
Participated · Equity · Jan 2026
SWISSto12 develops and manufactures satellite payloads and a compact geostationary platform called HummingSat, leveraging patented design and manufacturing technologies including 3D printing. Its HummingLink payload and antenna solutions have been deployed over 2,000 times across active missions, and the company is delivering payloads for several LEO constellations as well as seven HummingSat GEO platforms. SWISSto12 has secured contracts with major global operators including SES and Viasat for HummingSat and has more than $500 million in contracted orders. The company reported $140 million in revenue for 2025, achieved a 110% compound annual growth rate since 2022, and is expected to reach positive EBITDA in 2026. SWISSto12 plans to use recent funding to scale manufacturing and integration capacity to meet growing commercial and sovereign demand across multiple orbits.
- ALL.SPACE
Led · Grant · Oct 2025
Founded in 2013 (originally as Isotropic Systems Ltd), ALL.SPACE specialises in multi-orbit satellite communications terminals that can connect simultaneously to multiple satellite constellations and cellular networks. Its flagship multi-link terminal underpins a broader strategy to deliver resilient, converged communications for commercial and defence customers on land and at sea. Leveraging this platform, the company is developing an alternative Position, Navigation and Timing (Alt-PNT) capability that uses ambient ‘signals of opportunity’ to provide accurate location data when GNSS signals are jammed or spoofed. The Alt-PNT functionality will be embedded in the company’s terminals and offered via a Software-as-a-Service model. ALL.SPACE has completed development programmes with the European Space Agency (ESA), the UK Ministry of Defence and the U.S. Department of Defense, and has secured multiple commercial and military contracts, although no revenue or user numbers were disclosed. This new navigation initiative extends the firm’s portfolio and supports its goal of delivering sovereign, secure communications and navigation solutions worldwide.