Ex-SpaceX alum’s Alpine Space Ventures closes €170M fund to back spacetech startups
Alpine Space Ventures, a Munich-based VC firm focusing on early-stage investments in the European space sector, has announced the final closing of its first fund with a total of €170 million. This announcement follows the €60 million investment by the European Investment Fund (EIF) in 2023 and €10 million investment by the NATO Innovation Fund earlier this year.
Investment strategy
The fund primarily targets Series A rounds to build an initial position, investing in startups that serve or utilise the global space industry. It focuses on the industrialisation of the space sector and hardware and software solutions around connectivity and data.
Alpine Space Ventures has a primary focus on investments in the European ecosystem but has some flexibility to invest in the US. It also plans to leverage the team’s industry relationships with the early leadership team of SpaceX.
Talking about the investments, a concentrated portfolio of nearly 10-15 select investment targets will receive up to €5 million initially with significant follow-on rounds.
Team behind Alpine Space Ventures
Founding Partner Bulent Altan has been an early leader at SpaceX having joined Elon Musk’s team initially in 2004 and overseeing the avionics development for Falcon 1, Falcon 9, and Dragon capsule and later the development of the initial Starlink satellites before leaving the firm in 2017.
Other founding partner Joram Voelklein has been investing in tech since 2015 with a notable angel investment in launch company Isar Aerospace, together with Bulent, that made him one of the earliest backers of the European space tech ecosystem.
“We are looking forward to putting the fund’s capital to work and continuing to support the industry’s best entrepreneurs”, said Bulent Altan, Founding Partner at Alpine Space Ventures. “First and foremost, we are investing in the best teams with a strong market understanding, who are putting customer-centricity first, and are iterating though technical solutions quickly in their pursuit to build the best possible commercial solution.”
have seen so far in the industry.”
What do we think about Alpine Space Ventures?
With its €170 million fund, this VC is set to significantly impact the European space tech ecosystem. By targeting Series A rounds and leveraging deep industry connections, it will support cutting-edge startups. The VC’s strategic investments and technical expertise promise to accelerate space industrialisation and innovative connectivity and data solutions, fostering global growth.
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