Invested by Europe

No one has made an aerospike engine that could fly, even 60 years after it was first conceived. Adrià Argemí, founder and CEO of Pangea Propulsion, thinks he can do it. Using the "black magic" of super-precise 3D printing, his Barcelona-based team plans to turn the company into the "Rolls Royce of space." He talks about 3D-printing metal engines, the impact of defence spending on space, and why scaling a European space company takes too long. He also makes an impassioned proposal for more political and financial integration across the European Union. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Adam Niewinski, co-founder and managing partner of OTB Ventures, explains how the firm has backed deep tech since its start almost ten years ago. It made its first space investment when there were only two space tech investors in Europe. He now sees dozens of promising projects and believes Europe is catching up with the US. He credits the European Investment Fund with a large share of that progress, and says he "cannot imagine" Europe's startup ecosystem without it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bastian Behrens, founder of Blackwave, builds the high-pressure composite tanks inside rockets and satellites. He explains why space needs large, specialised suppliers, mimicking the automotive industry, and how Blackwave aims to become the "Space Bosch" of that supply chain. It's an interview full of insights into the testing and technical wizardry that goes into every component of a rocket or satellite. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Benedetta Cattani is CEO and co-founder of Ecosmic, a space domain awareness company she started in 2024 with two former European Space Agency colleagues. She and her two female co-founders track satellites and warn customers about collision risks and hostile manoeuvres. They're working with the European Space Agency, Leonardo, NATO's early adoption programme, and various defence ministries. They're backed by Primo Space, the venture capital fund, and indirectly by the European Investment Fund. Benedetta argues that Ecosmic is important because space is congested, contested and complex, and that talent and determination can beat much bigger rivals. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

João Falcão Serra leads industry and finance research at the European Space Policy Institute in Vienna. He explains how he tracks global investment in space companies and why European private funding is at record levels. He looks at the forces behind the boom, including defence demand, falling interest rates and the SpaceX IPO hype, and also points to a growing spread of investment in smaller economies like Finland, Bulgaria and Poland. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.