On Tuesday, April 12, Charles Beigbeder, founding CEO of asset management company Audacia, and François Chopard, founding CEO of aeronautics gas pedal Starburst, announced the launch of Expansion, a new Venture Capital fund designed to finance French and European startups in the Aerospace and Defense (ASD) sector, which is expected to reach €300 million in the long term.
Starburst, an aeronautics, space and defense gas pedal
Created in 2012 by François Chopard, Starburst is a strategy and innovation consulting firm. This first global gas pedal of aerospace and defense start-ups has offices in the main global innovation hubs of the ASD sector (Los Angeles, Paris, Montreal, Munich, Madrid, Singapore, Abu Dhabi, Seoul and Mumbai). The team has built an ecosystem of key players in the aerospace and defense industry with over 8,000 startups in its network and public and private partners. Starburst works with major corporations such as Airbus, Boeing, Nasa, CNES, Thales… and also with investment funds.
In Europe, Starburst is led by its co-founder Sandra Budimir and has more than 30 startups in its acceleration program, including about 20 in the BLAST program.
Audacia
Founded in 2006 by Charles Beigbeder, Audacia is an independent management company that provides equity and debt financing for entrepreneurial projects. It has invested more than €750 million on behalf of private investors, family offices and institutional investors in 350 companies and has developed three investment businesses:
- Expansion Capital in high-growth SMEs;
- Real Estate Capital, focused on modern coliving;
- Innovation Capital, including the Quantonation fund, the world’s first fund dedicated to quantum technologies and the Geodesic fund, dedicated to NewSpace.
The Expansion Fund
This fund plans to raise an initial €100 million by the end of 2022 and aims to become the leading European private fund dedicated to the DSA sector in order to ” support and finance French and European start-ups” from the seed phase to the series B stage, which should enable young companies to take off.
The fund aims to be the link between public funding, industrial activities and entrepreneurial projects which, according to the two companies, is lacking today in France and Europe.
Investments will focus on :
- micro-launchers and satellite constellations;
- space data exploitation and in-orbit services
- low-carbon aviation;
- new urban and regional air mobility platforms;
- Dual technologies with strategic applications for defense;
- all disruptive enabling technologies that fuel innovation in these sectors (new sensors, new materials, innovative equipment, artificial intelligence, etc.).
Expansion will be managed by Sandra Budimir, co-founder of Starburst, and Pierre-François Vilgrain, former executive at ArianeGroup and Airbus Defence & Space.
Dirk Hoke, former CEO of Airbus and Space, future CEO of Volocopter, and Emmanuel Chiva, Director of the Defense Innovation Agency of the French Ministry of the Armed Forces will bring their expertise and will be part of the strategic committee.
Dirk Hoke further stated:
“The future of our planet will be played out in space and Europe must regain a leading role. It is time for Europe to wake up and accelerate again in space exploration, telecommunications, observation and related technologies like AI, cloud and edge computing. The EXPANSION fund will play an important role in helping European innovators grow in Europe. “
Supporting French and European strategic sovereignty
According to the two companies, Expansion will ” complement current public efforts in France and Europe to support ASD innovation from start-ups.”
Several European initiatives, such as the France 2030 Plan, aim to establish European sovereignty and ” build the technological players of tomorrow,” particularly in the space sector.
Emmanuel Chiva, director of the Defense Innovation Agency of the Ministry of the Armed Forces, states:
“There are races that we cannot afford to lose. The Expansion Fund will be strategic in ensuring that France and Europe take their full place in space innovation, which is so essential to our strategic autonomy and our response to the challenges of tomorrow. “
Charles Beigbeder, chairman and founder of Audacia, confirms:
“The conquest of space is entering its second phase: that of the entrepreneurs! Telecommunications, geolocation, observation, industrialization in micro-gravity, are all areas that will be accelerated by New Space and its startups. The EXPANSION fund will accompany this revolution, which will contribute to the essential reconquest of our European sovereignty.
François Chopard, founder and CEO of Starburst, concludes:
“Since its creation, Starburst has been striving to build the missing bridges between entrepreneurial players in research and innovation with companies and public organizations that are acting for the future. Beyond our particular attachment to Europe, acting to help France and the countries of the Union to catch up was a necessity. We are delighted to take this new step in financing innovation in the Aerospace and Defense sector alongside Audacia and a leading strategic board.
