Compare Companies
| Field | 🇫🇷 MaiaSpace | 🇫🇷 Latitude | 🇩🇪 Isar Aerospace | 🇩🇪 Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type | private | private | private | private |
| Country | 🇫🇷 France | 🇫🇷 France | 🇩🇪 Germany | 🇩🇪 Germany |
| Founded | 2022 | 2019 | 2018 | 2018 |
| CEO | Yohann Leroy | Stanislas Maximin | Daniel Metzler | Prof. Dr. Indulis Kalnins |
| Mkt Cap / Valuation | — | — | ~€2B post-money (Series D, June 2026 — €270M round) | Undisclosed; OHB SE strategic stake + KKR convertible (€30M, Aug 2023) |
| Employees | 200+ | 160 | ~430 (Ottobrunn HQ, plus Andøya launch operations) | ~400 (post-overhaul, ahead of inaugural flight) |
| Sector | Launch vehicles — reusable small/medium launch | Launch vehicles — small satellite launch | European Small-Satellite Launch | European Launch |
| Last raise / Last filing | — | — | €270M (~$312M) (2026-06-09) | €30M (2023-08-08) |
| Top risks | Schedule credibility — the company's own launcher page still advertises a 2025 first flight that did not happen.; Reusability is unproven in Europe; the 500 kg reusable payload figure is a paper specification, not flight-demonstrated. | A schedule slip is already visible (earlier hopes for 2026 have moved to a company-stated 2027) — small-launch startups burn runway fastest in the pre-flight year.; Roughly €50M raised is thin against what peers have needed to reach orbit; another funding round is likely required before flight. | 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+) |
| Next catalyst | Eutelsat-contracted LEO launches begin (2027) | Zephyr first launch (2027) | 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) |
Maximum 4 companies. Pass slugs in the ids query parameter, comma-separated. Try SpaceX vs Blue Origin vs Rocket Lab vs Firefly.