Just a day after seeing shares surge on the back of strong results driven by portfolio company valuation appreciation, Molten Ventures has announced a fresh investment in an existing holding.
Molten Ventures has put another €30m behind Isar Aerospace, providing further backing for the German rocket company, which it already holds as one of the standout names in European space.
The London-listed venture capital firm was involved in Isar’s €270m Series D round, investing alongside Island Green Capital and other existing shareholders. The fresh capital will go towards scaling the business globally and ramping up serial production of its Spectrum launch vehicle.
Founded near Munich in 2018, Isar is a launch provider for small and medium satellites. Molten’s thinking here is rooted in a structural gap: demand for reliable access to orbit, whether for comms, earth observation or defence, is climbing just as Europe finds itself short of a commercially competitive launch provider of its own.
Ben Wilkinson, Chief Executive Officer of Molten Ventures, said: “Isar Aerospace represents one of the most significant opportunities in the European space technology sector.”
“It exemplifies what we do as venture capital investors: identifying and providing our investors with exposure to category-defining companies, backing them from an early stage, continuing to support these companies at key value inflexion points, and ultimately being well-positioned to realise outsized returns. We are extremely proud to be continuing to support Isar’s success.”
There’s a sovereignty angle too. With European governments increasingly keen on homegrown launch capability for national security, Molten sees Isar as well-placed to become a defining player in the continent’s new space infrastructure.
Molten and its investors have already done very well out of Isar. Molten’s existing Isar holding, held through its Earlybird funds in the Core Portfolio, was valued at £40m at the March year-end – a return of roughly 10.1 times the capital invested.