Munich-based Alpine Space Ventures has raised $155 million (€144.6m) for its space-focused venture capital fund, and says it expects this to grow to $160 million by the end of June.

Co-founder of the business Joram Voelklein says the fund has received “sizeable” investments from the European Investment Fund (EIF) of €60 million and NATO’s Innovation Fund (€10m).

Voelklein, speaking at an event organised by Space Tech Expo, said his fund was now seeing governments getting interested. He explained that one of its investments (in K2 Space), which had already received financing from the US Space Development Agency, was to back a massive 10,000 kgs ‘Giga’ satellite – about twice the size and weight of today’s largest craft – but will depend on Elon Musk’s SpaceX introducing its massive Starship rocket to carry it into orbit.

Other investment cash has gone electric propulsion specialists Morpheus Space, Blackwave, which is focussing on developing composite materials for use in the space industry, and Source Energy which is backing solar power for use in space.

Alpine Space has a number of former SpaceX staffers as its “limited partners” and that Alpine had huge trust in what SpaceX was doing. “Starship will come on line and it will be a pillar of the emerging space economy. K2 has a monopoly of a market where you have no limits in terms of payload and power supply.”

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Tags: alpine, Space