Porsche is investing money in the rocket startup Isar Aerospace
VW's owner holding Porsche Automobil Holding SE is investing money in the Bavarian rocket startup Isar Aerospace. With the investment, the Stuttgart-based subsidiary of the Volkswagen owner families Porsche and Piëch is acquiring a stake in the low single-digit percentage range. Isar Aerospace develops and produces launch vehicles for the transport of satellites.
"As an investor with a focus on mobility and industrial technologies, we are convinced that inexpensive and flexible access to space will ensure innovations in many industrial sectors," said Lutz Meschke, the manager responsible for investments at Porsche SE. Isar Aerospace has not yet launched any satellites into space, but is planning the first rocket launch for the coming year. The "Spectrum" rocket developed by the company is intended to offer a particularly cost-effective and time-flexible transport option for satellites. Cost advantages over carrier rockets are to be achieved in particular with a high degree of automation in the manufacture of the rockets.
Isar Aerospace is thus entering a market that has recently been increasingly targeted by companies such as SpaceX by Tesla boss Elon Musk. The space company Blue Origin of
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is also using low-cost rocket technology to bring devices and tourists into space.
The participation of Porsche SE was concluded as part of a new financing round, in which Isar Aerospace from Ottobrunn near
Munich collected around 75 million US dollars from Porsche SE and other investors. In total, the company has raised a good $ 180 million in funds to date.