- The EU Bank provides a venture loan of EUR 18 million to leading new space company GomSpace, a Danish provider of space infrastructure and missions
- The EIB loan will fund GomSpace’s nano-satellite platform through product innovation, including high‑frequency applications crucial for the telecom sector
- The project supports also EU space policy and the Strategic European Security Initiative, aimed at reaching strategic autonomy in space
The European Investment Bank (EIB) as the long-term lending institution of the European Union, and GomSpace, an innovative Danish space company, have announced a venture debt financing agreement of up to EUR 18 million. The EIB is a key financier of new space technologies in the European Union, including recent combined EUR 45 million financings into “new space” leaders such as Spire Global, D-Orbit and EnduroSat. Now, the EIB is again supporting space “deep tech” with a venture loan to GomSpace, a Danish space company and pioneer in the global market for nano-satellites, platforms, systems, and space missions. The project concerns research and development for an enlarged platform, including streamlined subsystems for their entire product range. For payloads, the focus is on high frequency applications, which are crucial for the telecom sector.
Financing space technology with venture debt
The EIB loan will fund space technology research and development, mainly through investments in product innovation in Denmark. The operation falls under the policy pillar of innovation, furthering “deep tech” innovation based on advanced science and engineering. At the same time, the financing directly supports the EU Space Policy and the Strategic European Security Initiative, aimed at achieving EU Strategic Autonomy in space. Indirectly, the operation also contributes to the policy objectives of infrastructure (building up terrestrial and orbital space assets), climate action (via joint space missions with the European Space Agency), and improved access to risk capital for a small young company.
The venture debt facility will be granted under the European Growth Finance Facility (EGFF), part of the Investment Plan for Europe, in which the EIB and the European Commission are strategic partners to alleviate the funding gap in growth capital for European technology ventures. The investment plan will support GomSpace’s EU-based activities to accelerate revenue growth through further industrialisation. This requires substantial investments in product development, as well as working capital and commercial expansion, where the EIB’s venture loan can play a vital role. Since launch in 2016, the EGFF programme has provided equity-type risk finance to over 100 EU-based technology companies, for an amount in excess of EUR 2.4 billion to date.
EIB Vice President, Christian Thomsen, responsible for Denmark, commented:”EIB’s commitment to supporting the space industry, where capital is needed to make a paradigm shift in innovation and technology for Europe, comes at a crucial point in time for this strategic sector. This is exactly where EIB is coming in, bridging a funding gap to support R&D in this dynamic sector at the right time, during different development phases for a company.”
Niels Buus, CEO of GomSpace, commented: “The transaction is a step towards initiating the first phase of the strategy to create a modular capability to configure a range of In-Orbit Demonstration platforms to suit customers’ different needs for applications (initially announced in the Q1, 2022 financial interim report); the “Product Investment Program”.
EU and EIB Group aim at the stars
The European Union has historical flagship programmes like Copernicus and Galileo that provide Europe with autonomous space capabilities, but is also embracing the changes of the new space sector with various funding vehicles. Jointly with the European Commission, the EIB Group provides direct venture loans for later-stage space ventures, and through the European Investment Fund (EIF) launched initiatives such as the InnovFin Space Equity Pilot or the CASSINI initiative, to back venture capital funds investing into European, early‑stage space startups.
Beyond funding, the EIB Group is supporting the development of European new space through Advisory Services, in collaboration with the European Commission. The services produced a market study on the European space sector, and initiated the EIB Space Finance Lab to connect space companies with financiers. In 2022, the EIB assisted in the first report on Global Navigation Satellite Systems Investments, published jointly with the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA).
Background information
About EIB
The European Investment Bank (EIB) is active in some 160 countries and is the world’s largest multilateral lender for climate action projects, as well as a key financier of innovation, infrastructure and SME lending. The bank is providing long term financing to economically sustainable investments to contribute to the EU’s political objectives. The EIB Group has set “ensuring a just transition for all” as one of the four overarching objectives in its Climate Bank Roadmap 2025. The EIB’s ambition is to support EUR 1 trillion of climate action and environmental sustainability investments in the decade to 2030 and align all its new operations with the goals and principles of the Paris Agreement.
About GomSpace:
Founded in 2007, GomSpace is a Danish nanosatellite manufacturer and turnkey provider of space infrastructure and missions, with global reach and 175+ employees. GomSpace has its HQ, business operations, and manufacturing in Denmark, Aalborg, its satellite operations in Luxembourg, propulsion technology centre in Sweden, and sales offices in the U.S. and Asia. The company is listed on the Nasdaq First North Premier exchange under the ticker GOMX. FNCA Sweden AB, info@fnca.se, +46-8-528 00 399 is the Company’s Certified Adviser.