Skip to main content
Defence Industry and Space
News article26 April 2022

Launch of the CASSINI space investment facility

The European Investment Fund (EIF) has published the CASSINI Facility, enabling risk capital investments in space-related companies at the level of €1 billion or more during the coming six years.

EIF Equity products visual
European Investment Fund

The European Investment Fund (EIF) has published the CASSINI Facility, enabling risk capital investments in space-related companies at the level of €1 billion or more during the coming six years.

Fund managers interested in raising a new fund and getting additional capital are encouraged to contact the EIF for more information. The documents are published here.

The scope of the CASSINI Facility can be found on page 8 of “Annex II – Term sheet Growth, Innovation, Impact”, which also describes the terms and the eligibility of the financial intermediaries and the final recipients.

 

Why is the European Union supporting investments in space?

Space is a critical enabler for the future of the European Union’s citizens and companies. Anyone using a mobile phone or a computer is estimated to run applications using space data at least a dozen times per day.

Space is likely to become an even more important technological asset in the next decade, with the development of novel satellites and new digital services exploiting space data. This opens up significant potential for profitable investments into Europe-based companies. Europe has a unique set of talents, know-how and entrepreneurial spirit.

Still, our New Space ecosystem often has difficulties in raising growth financing, hampering their ability to expand as fast as they should. Despite a rising interest globally, investments in space are still perceived as risky.

It is precisely to unlock the private investment capacity and to attract more financial intermediaries that the European Commission has launched the €1 billion CASSINI Facility. The objectives are to support the creation of e.g. of 4-6 new investment funds focused on space annually, and enable approximately 60 new equity investments per year on average into space-related companies.

ESA, EUSPA, EIF and EIB, to name a few, are cooperating with the Commission to spur entrepreneurship. The investment facility will be complemented by other actions, including CASSINI Matchmaking, CASSINI Business Accelerator, and a capacity building programme for fund managers.

 

More info available on the CASSINI space entrepreneurship initiative.

Details

Publication date
26 April 2022