- HyImpulse has secured a Series A Extension funding round of over €50 million, with JOIN Capital and Ace Capital as the lead investors.
- The German Aerospace Centre, which originally launched HyImpulse, is now acting as an investor in this funding round.
- The total capital of HyImpulse is now over €125 million as a result of this funding, which supports an order book worth more than €350 million.
Four engineers left the German Aerospace Center, also known as DLR, to found HyImpulse Technologies, a rocket company in Lampoldshausen, seven years ago.
The space tech startup has completed a Series A Extension, raising more than €50 million, with JOIN Capital and Ace Capital Partners as lead investors. DLR is a new investor and is joining North Ventures, BW-Capital, Bayern Kapital and Campus Founders Ventures, who are also returning investors.
“Europe needs sovereign, responsive and economically sustainable launch capabilities,” said Christian Schmierer, HyImpulse’s co-founder and CEO.
In 2025, Europe conducted fewer than 10 orbital launches, whereas the United States conducted over 190. McKinsey forecasts that global commercial launch revenues will amount to $32 billion by 2035. At the same time, pressure is increasing on NATO members to ensure they have independent access to orbit.
From DLR spinout to DLR-backed
Schmierer established HyImpulse in 2018 together with Ulrich Fischer, Konstantin Tomilin and Mario Kobald, all of whom were aerospace engineers at the University of Stuttgart and had been constructing and launching hybrid sounding rockets together since 2012.
The company’s engine uses paraffin and liquid oxygen instead of conventional kerosene. JOIN Capital states that the engine has about half as many parts and offers a way to reduce the cost per kilogram to reach orbit.
The SR75 rocket, a suborbital vehicle, made one flight from Australia’s Koonibba Test Range in 2024, and another launch is scheduled for SaxaVord Spaceport in Scotland by the end of 2026, prior to the first flight of the orbital SL1.
Racing Europe’s other rocket makers
Isar Aerospace, headquartered in Munich and involved in the development of the larger Spectrum rocket, has raised approximately €870 million, including a €270 million Series D funding round in June 2026. Rocket Factory Augsburg has support from the satellite company OHB and has obtained more than €190 million from the European Space Agency.
Spain’s PLD Space has raised € 288 million in Series C financing. The UK company Orbex, which had previously been shortlisted for the ESA’s European Launcher Challenge, entered administration in February 2026 following the failure of its Series D funding round.
Although other companies are aiming for higher payload capacities using traditional liquid-propellant engines, HyImpulse is focusing on a simpler, more cost-effective hybrid engine to enable more frequent launches. Moreover, the SR75 is being used as a vehicle for testing at hypersonic speeds, with a target of Mach 15 and a range of 10,000 kilometres, thus providing a defence and research capability which no one else currently has.
“HyImpulse has built a fundamentally leaner rocket architecture. They have already proven the technology in flight,” said Jan Borgstädt, founding partner at JOIN Capital.
Shimon Tsentsiper of Ace Capital Partners added, “The team around Christian Schmierer has achieved critical milestones with limited resources.”
What comes next
This latest funding round comes after HyImpulse completed a Series A round of €45 million in October 2025, the deal comprising €15 million in equity led by Campus Founders Ventures and €30 million from public sources. HyImpulse has thus raised more than €125 million in equity and public funding, and its order book exceeds €350 million.
The money being raised will assist with the SaxaVord launch, with the first flight of the SL1 and the expansion of production at the sites in Neuenstadt, Ottobrunn and Glasgow. Currently, HyImpulse has more than 100 employees at these locations.
Four companies are still competing for the limited number of European launch sites, and instead of staying merely an affiliate, DLR has decided to take an equity stake in one of them. The central issue for the other companies is whether the more affordable hybrid engines can achieve a regular launch schedule before the larger conventional engines do.
