Exotrail Raises 11M€ to Become a Leader in On-orbit Transportation for Small Satellites

Paris, 16^th July 2020

Exotrail has raised 11M€ (13M$) to become a leader in on-orbit transportation for small satellites. This Series A round was led by two European Venture Capital firms, Karista (through Paris Region Venture Fund) and Innovacom. IXO Private Equity, NCI-Waterstart, Turenne Capital and returning investors 360 Capital, Irdi Soridec Gestion and Bpifrance also invested. This round will further boost Exotrail’s development by allowing the company to extend its product portfolio and scale-up its manufacturing and business development capabilities.

The Series A fundraising will enable Exotrail to continue to bring unique solutions to significantly enhance deployment, improve performance and reduce space pollution in the rapidly growing small satellite space market. Exotrail’s innovative propulsion systems and mission design and operations software will now allow small satellites to optimise their deployment in space, choose their orbit, and prevent collisions thus reducing space debris.

“This fundraising reinforces our core mission which is to build sustainable constellations of small satellites.  Sustainable in terms of launch costs, performance capabilities and of course space environment. Raising this money in this challenging period is hugely important for us and is a significant success for the company, further underlining the accomplishments of our team in the past two years.  Looking to the future, our ambition is to become a leading player in the European NewSpace sector.” said David Henri, one of the four co-founders & CEO of Exotrail.

“We are delighted to have the opportunity to invest in Exotrail, a company with outstanding New Space solutions, supported by a visionary team with a unique go-to-market approach, which has already signed strategic business contracts with major Space players. Exotrail’s  success  is proof of our ability to identify and invest in promising companies in the New Space field, a sector which is at the heart of the strategy of our forthcoming fund supported by CNES, CosmiCapital” said Yvan-Michel Ehkirch and Michael Thomas from Karista.

“We were won over by Exotrail’s ambition and expertise. We are delighted to support the best of French “deep tech” in space!” said Fréderic Humbert from Innovacom.

Exotrail was incorporated in 2017 and has now raised 17M€ to date. The company has designed, built and qualified a first propulsion system demonstrator in only 10 months. It was delivered in September 2019 and is now awaiting launch. Since the beginning of the year, the company has signed multiple contracts, including Clyde Space, Eutelsat, CNES and ESA, as well as with an Asian company. With a staff of 27 in Massy & Toulouse in France, the company intends to grow to 50 people in 2022 in order to be able to produce 100 propulsion systems per year.

About Exotrail

Exotrail is a company developing solutions for on-orbit transportation, including electric propulsion and mission optimisation and operation solutions for small satellites. Exotrail’s mission is to deliver agility to the space industry to foster an environment of new services in Earth observation, telecommunication and science.

Press Contact: press@exotrail.com
Jacques Denavaut, +33 6 85 13 13 97  jacques.denavaut@exotrail.com
Follow-us on Twitter (@ExotrailSpace) and Linkedin!

About Karista 

Karista, formerly CapDecisif Management, is an independent venture capital firm specialized in early-stage investments, particularly in the digital, technology and healthcare fields. Since its creation in 2001, the company has supported more than 90 companies in Western Europe and generates sustained performance for its investors. The Karista team is recognized for its complementarity and its network. Karista has signed the Sista collective charter.

Press Contact
Anna Casal – +33 6 50 61 55 71– anna.casal@strategieetmedias.com

About Paris Region Venture Fund (fund managed by Karista)

The Paris Region, which has adopted the strategy #Leader for Growth, Jobs and Innovation, has designated the Paris Region Venture Fund, managed by the management company Karista, as the strategic financial instrument to help create and develop innovative companies with high growth potential in the Paris Region. The Paris Region Venture Fund is financed by the Paris Region and the European Commission through the ERDF (European Regional Development Fund).

About Innovacom

A pioneer in venture capital in France, Innovacom has invested nearly €1 billion since 1988, supported more than 300 digital startups, participated in more than 20 stock market listings and 150 trade sales. Innovacom has contributed to several successes in various sectors such as: electric vehicles (G2Mobility), Ad Tech (Videoplazza), medical imaging (Olea Medical), digital customer relations (Dimelo), connectivity in trains (21Net Ltd) or components for smartphones with the Heptagon unicorn. Among its most recent investments are companies such as Aryballe Technologies, CAILabs, Cozy Cloud, Exagan, Feeligreen, Intersec, ITEN, Kolibree, MicroEJ, Matrixx Software or Robart Gmbh. Its recent association with the Turenne Group, one of the leaders in private equity in France, has given rise to a €1 billion private equity platform. Present in Paris and Marseille, Innovacom is a company regulated by the French Market Authorities.

www.innovacom.com – @innovacomvc
Press Contact
Laurence Tovi (Taddeo) – +33 6 34 78 36 32 – laurence.tovi@taddeo.fr

Exotrail’s vision: onboard propulsion, on-orbit transportation and on-orbit servicing. Credits : Real Dream, Exotrail.