Compare Companies
| Field | 🇩🇪 HyImpulse Technologies | 🇩🇪 Isar Aerospace | 🇩🇪 Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) | 🇫🇷 HyPrSpace |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type | private | private | private | private |
| Country | 🇩🇪 Germany | 🇩🇪 Germany | 🇩🇪 Germany | 🇫🇷 France |
| Founded | 2018 | 2018 | 2018 | 2019 |
| CEO | Dr. Christian Schmierer | Daniel Metzler | Prof. Dr. Indulis Kalnins | Sylvain Bataillard |
| Mkt Cap / Valuation | — | ~€2B post-money (Series D, June 2026 — €270M round) | Undisclosed; OHB SE strategic stake + KKR convertible (€30M, Aug 2023) | — |
| Employees | — | ~430 (Ottobrunn HQ, plus Andøya launch operations) | ~400 (post-overhaul, ahead of inaugural flight) | 90+ |
| Sector | Launch Vehicles | European Small-Satellite Launch | European Launch | Launch Vehicles |
| Last raise / Last filing | — | €270M (~$312M) (2026-06-09) | €30M (2023-08-08) | — |
| Top risks | SL1 schedule slip — no orbital-class vehicle from any German startup has yet reached orbit.; A crowded European small-launch field (Isar, RFA, Orbex, PLD Space, Latitude) chasing a payload market that may not support all entrants. | Flight 2 outcome is the dominant risk — the first Spectrum flight on 30 March 2025 was terminated by the Flight Termination System ~30 seconds after liftoff due to a vent-valve opening and roll-control loss; a second consecutive failure would be near-existential; Production ramp from one rocket per year (R&D cadence) to 6–10 per year (commercial cadence) is unproven and capital-intensive; the €150M Eldridge convertible buys runway but a Series D is required | August 2024 SaxaVord stage-1 hot-fire anomaly destroyed a complete first stage and damaged the launch mount — a repeat would be catastrophic for the company's funding runway; Pre-revenue, development-stage launcher with smaller balance sheet than Isar Aerospace (€400M+) and PLD Space (€380M+) | First-flight failure risk on a novel propulsion architecture with zero orbital heritage anywhere in the industry.; A severely overcrowded and capital-starved European microlauncher field (Isar, RFA, PLD Space, Latitude, MaiaSpace, Orbex, Skyrora). |
| Next catalyst | SL1 first orbital flight (2026) | Second Spectrum flight 'Onward and Upward' — qualifying mission with first paying customer payloads (5 cubesats + 1 experiment) (Next window NET 15 June 2026 (after January, March and April 2026 scrubs)) | RFA ONE inaugural orbital test flight from SaxaVord Spaceport (Shetland, UK) (Summer 2026) | Baguette One first suborbital flight (2026) |
Maximum 4 companies. Pass slugs in the ids query parameter, comma-separated. Try SpaceX vs Blue Origin vs Rocket Lab vs Firefly.