Octopus, BGF lead $24m round for Orbex

Octopus invests from a series of VCT and institutional funds, while BGF acts as an evergreen fund, financed by a number of UK banks.

Existing investors High-Tech Gründerfonds, Heartcore Capital and Elecnor, the parent company of the multinational space firm Deimos Space, also participated.

The European Horizon 2020 SME Instrument programme has also provided the company with a grant of €2.5m, making it the first UK company to receive funding from the organisation.

The fresh capital will go towards the first launch from the Space Hub Sutherland spaceport in Scotland.

Previous funding
The EU Executive Agency for SMEs provided a grant of €50,000 in 2017.

Orbex won £5.5m in grant funding from the UK Space Agency’s Launch UK programme in 2018. In addition, High-Tech Grunderfonds and Heartcore Capital invested £30m in the business in 2018.

Company
Founded in 2015, Orbex is Forres-based orbital launch services company, serving the needs of the small satellite industry. The company is currently constructing its new rocket vehicle, the Orbex Prime rocket, in factories in Forres, Scotland and Copenhagen, Denmark, and it also has subsidiaries in Germany.

People
Octopus Ventures – Simon King (partner).
BGF – Keith Barclay (investor).

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• Topics
• Early-stage
• UK / Ireland
• Technology
• High-Tech Gründerfonds
• United Kingdom
• Venture
• Octopus Ventures
• BGF (Business Growth Fund)