Orbex, a UK-based startup developing small satellite launch technologies, has raised £40.4 million ($45.7 million) in Series C funding, building on its £48 million ($54.4 million) raised since 2017, plus grant money from the European Commission Horizon 2020 Programme and the European Space Agency‘s (ESA) Boost! Initiative. The multi-million funding round will help strengthen Orbex’s place in the growing British private space economy, which is gearing up to rejoin the space race.
In the last few years, Britain’s ambition to become an international space center has led to a new phase in the country’s involvement in space. Although historically, the U.K. has had limited involvement with space launch capabilities, it does have a space program and has been operating in space since 1969. However, it wasn’t until May 2021 when the U.K. government announced that the country…
