The new capital includes €15 million in equity from a Series A funding round and €30 million (AU$53.8 million) in additional financing, bringing the company’s total raised to around €74 million since its founding in 2018.
The round was led by Campus Founders, joined by investors including Helantic, GIMIC, the Global Resilience Innovation Fund, MBG Baden-Württemberg, Start-up BW Innovation Fonds, Sparkassen-Beteiligungsgesellschaft Heilbronn-Franken, Vienna Point, and BTRON.
HyImpulse, based in Baden-Württemberg, specialises in hybrid propulsion systems that blend solid and liquid, fuel an approach designed to make satellite launches safer, more flexible and far cheaper than traditional rocket systems.
The company gained international attention last year after successfully testing its SR75 suborbital rocket, the first commercial demonstration of a paraffin-based hybrid engine.
Co-founder and CEO Dr Christian Schmierer said the funding would fast-track commercialisation of the company’s orbital rocket and expand production capacity. “Europe doesn’t yet have its own access to space,” he said.
Schmierer added, “While SpaceX runs scheduled bus services to orbit, we’re building a flexible taxi – giving customers the ability to choose when and how they launch.”
Campus Founders CEO Oliver Hanisch described HyImpulse as a “trailblazer for European space technology”, saying the company had shown how deep tech start-ups can transform cutting-edge research into global opportunity.
The three-stage SL1 rocket, due for launch in 2027, will be capable of carrying up to 600 kilograms into low-Earth orbit. The company plans its first commercial SR75 flight with paying customers in 2026, before scaling up to full orbital operations.
With Europe accounting for less than 1 per cent of global launches in 2024, HyImpulse’s progress is seen as pivotal to boosting regional capability.
As Schmierer put it, “We’re not just building rockets – we’re building Europe’s independence in space.”