TAMPA, Fla. — Eutelsat has invested in French enterprise capital firm Karista’s space technology fund to strengthen ties with startups across Europe, the satellite operator said Sept. 5.
The 2-year-old fund has up to now made early-stage investments starting from a million to 5 million euros ($1.1 million to $5.4 million) in seven space-focused startups:
About 30% of the 45 million euro funding pot has been deployed thus far, Karista CEO Olivier Dubuisson told . The firm has a 2028 deadline to take a position the remainder.
Eutelsat didn’t disclose how much it invested within the fund but said partnering with the VC firm would help drive more innovation on the 46-year-old geostationary fleet operator.
The announcement comes as Eutelsat’s shareholders prepare to vote Sept. 28 on a merger with OneWeb, a British broadband startup with 634 satellites in low Earth orbit.
Dubuisson said 21 investors at the moment are participating in its space fund, including other corporates reminiscent of CMA CGM, a French shipping and logistics company, and financial institutions BPIFrance and Covea.
French space agency CNES is the cornerstone investor of the fund and has an agreement with Karista that covers technical due diligence and assistance, purchasing of startup services or products, and access to major CNES suppliers.
While Eutelsat has previously invested in a world space technology fund run by U.K.-based Seraphim Space, Dubuisson said Karista is solely focused on Europe.
“We predict that Europe is the right playground for Spacetech investments,” he said via email.
There are a lot of investment opportunities in Europe at prices which are more reasonable than in america, he added.
Karista and other VC firms hope adding more room investment capability in Europe will help the region close the gap with america, where tech investors a decade ago helped usher in a flood of entrepreneurial startups to the industry.
Thomas Baden, managing partner of Swiss private equity firm Neventa Capital, said in June there had been more room technology funding in Europe for the primary half of the yr than in all of 2022.