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The EU launched a billion-euro fund to support startups in the space startup to attract private investors into the key sector
FREMONT CA: The European Commission has launched a new program to provide funding to European businesses to keep them on the continent. Cassini, a program that will give early-stage investment for European space entrepreneurs, will get at least one billion euros ($1.12 billion) over five years, according to officials from the European Commission, European Investment Bank, and European Investment Fund. During a speech at the 14th European Space Conference where Kris Peeters, vice president of the European Investment Bank, and other officials unveiled the fund, noting that European space entrepreneurs believe there is a dearth of private finance sources. As a result, they prefer to keep a close check on private capital outside the EU, particularly in the United States. The role of European public financial tools in freeing private funding for the space sector is critical.
At the conference, Thierry Breton, the European Union commissioner in charge of space affairs,
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expressed similar thoughts. Many of their start-ups could not obtain the necessary equity funding in Europe. They have no choice except to seek investment from non-EU countries. Naturally, this is a missed opportunity and a significant risk for Europe. At the summit, Breton, Peeters, and Alain Godard, CEO of the European Investment Fund, signed a joint statement formalizing their Cassini relationship. Later in the day, officials from the European Union, the European Space Agency, and the European Investment Fund issued another joint statement. At the signing of the second joint statement on Cassini, ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher stated that Europe lacks access to money in order to allow the industry to develop.
Guillaume de La Brosse, head of the European Commission directorate responsible for space's
innovations, start-ups, and economics branch said the European Investment Fund would work with European venture capital funds for Cassini during a later panel session at the conference. In the second half of the year, these funds will make their first investments. In the discussion, executives from European space industries welcomed Cassini and noted that the climate for space investment in Europe was already improving. Nicolas Capet, CEO of Anywaves, a French antenna maker, stated that the number of possibilities developed and executed by institutions in the last five years has been astounding. Many significant things have already been accomplished.
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