HyImpulse raises €50M+ to turn paraffin rockets into a launch business

Why it matters

HyImpulse is racing to convert university rocket research into European launch capacity while rivals collect nine-figure ESA contracts. The round buys time to prove SR75 and reach orbit with SL1.

Christian Schmierer and his three co-founders have raised more than EUR 50 million for HyImpulse, giving the German rocket builder fresh capital to move from a single suborbital demonstration toward commercial launches and an orbital vehicle.

The Series A extension was co-led by JOIN Capital and Ace Capital Partners, Tech.eu reported on September 2. North Ventures, BW-Capital, Bayern Kapital and the German Aerospace Center, known as DLR, participated alongside existing shareholder Campus Founders Ventures.

Schmierer, Mario Kobald, Konstantin Tomilin and Ulrich Fischer started HyImpulse in 2018 after working together in the University of Stuttgart and DLR's hybrid-rocket research program. Their shared history explains HyImpulse's central technical wager: combining paraffin-based solid fuel with liquid oxygen in engines that HyImpulse says require fewer components than conventional liquid-fuel systems.

Schmierer earned his aerospace engineering diploma from the University of Stuttgart in 2013 and completed a doctorate there in 2019. Between 2014 and 2018, he worked at DLR on systems analysis for hybrid rockets, sounding rockets, launch vehicles and lunar landers. Kobald managed the university's HyEnD sounding-rocket project from 2012 to 2016, while Tomilin and Fischer worked on propulsion, airframes, recovery systems and lightweight structures.

That research pedigree now has to become a repeatable launch operation. HyImpulse plans to spend the round on its next SR75 suborbital mission, the development and maiden flight of its SL1 orbital launcher, added production capacity and commercial expansion. The valuation and ownership changes attached to the extension were not disclosed.

From student rocket to launch schedule

HyImpulse traces its propulsion work to research that began in 2006. A 2016 HyEnD flight set what HyImpulse describes as a student record for hybrid and liquid rockets, providing the technical foundation for HyImpulse's later vehicles.

The SR75 is a single-stage suborbital rocket powered by a 75-kilonewton engine. HyImpulse lists payload capacity of up to 250 kilograms and a target altitude of roughly 200 kilometers, with a parachute system designed to recover the vehicle and payloads. The rocket is intended for microgravity research, atmospheric work, technology testing and defence applications.

HyImpulse flew the SR75 for the first time on May 3, 2024, from the Koonibba Test Range in South Australia. Its orbital program uses the larger, three-stage SL1 vehicle.

The next test is planned for the end of 2026 at SaxaVord Spaceport in Scotland. It would be HyImpulse's first launch from European territory. The launch agreement makes SaxaVord the planned site for the mission.

That second flight carries more commercial weight than the first. HyImpulse is selling access to high-altitude, hypersonic and microgravity conditions while using SR75 missions to qualify systems for the larger SL1. Delays would reach beyond one suborbital launch and into the schedule for HyImpulse's orbital program.

The planned SL1 is a three-stage launcher designed to carry up to 600 kilograms to low Earth orbit. HyImpulse is targeting its first orbital flight in 2027. The same hybrid architecture sits at the center of the pitch: solid paraffin fuel is already contained in the combustion chamber, while liquid oxygen is supplied separately. HyImpulse says that arrangement cuts component count and system complexity. Its cost and reliability claims have yet to be demonstrated through an orbital flight cadence.

Europe is paying for launch capacity

Schmierer is raising into a European launch market increasingly shaped by government procurement as well as venture capital. "Europe needs sovereign, responsive and economically sustainable launch capabilities," he told Tech.eu.

Five other launch providers advanced through the European Launcher Challenge: Isar Aerospace, Rocket Factory Augsburg, PLD Space, MaiaSpace and Orbex. HyImpulse was not among the five selected challengers.

On August 27, ESA said it had signed initial contracts worth EUR 197.8 million with Isar Aerospace, EUR 186.9 million with Rocket Factory Augsburg and EUR 158.9 million with PLD Space. The milestone-based agreements require the providers to achieve an orbital launch before 2028. A contract with MaiaSpace was still being completed at the time of ESA's announcement.

HyImpulse has received public support outside that program. In November 2024, HyImpulse announced an EUR 11.8 million extension under ESA's Boost! program for SL1 development. Its October 2025 financing announcement also combined EUR 15 million in equity with EUR 30 million in additional financing, including public funding. Because those disclosures mix equity and non-equity capital, they do not establish a clean cumulative venture total.

The new extension gives HyImpulse a private-led counterweight as rivals add nine-figure government contracts. It also puts DLR, where the founders developed their early hybrid-rocket work, among the reported participants in the financing.

HyImpulse still has to cross the line that separates promising propulsion from a launch provider: flying again, carrying customer payloads and reaching orbit. The founders have spent more than a decade developing the underlying technology. The EUR 50 million-plus extension funds the part investors and launch customers will measure most closely - whether HyImpulse can turn that work into missions that leave the pad on schedule.