# The Exploration Company raises $450M Series C led by Bessemer Venture Partners

> The Exploration Company, based in Germany, has raised $450M in a Series C led by Bessemer Venture Partners, Atomico and Scaleup Europe Fund, announced on 8...

Source: https://millionrounds.com/news/rounds/the-exploration-company-series-c-2026-09 (Millionrounds; every figure on the page links to its filing or article)

Raised **$450M** 7 sources reported it

Stage **Series C** 1 earlier round on record

Investors **12** 4 named as lead

Where **DE** Germany

Aerospace & Space Logistics

## How big is it?

Against every equity round we recorded in the twelve months to 8 September 2026. Ranks count companies, so the same raise reported twice is counted once.

**#122** equity round of the last twelve months

**#23** Series C of 201 in that time

**#5** round in Germany, of 63

This round **$450M**

Median Series C **$100M**

4.5 times the median Series C of the last twelve months.

## Who invested

- [**Bessemer Venture Partners** 135 rounds in the last twelve months *Led*](https://millionrounds.com/fund/bessemer-venture-partners)
- [**Atomico** 34 rounds in the last twelve months *Led*](https://millionrounds.com/fund/atomico)
- [**Scaleup Europe Fund** 7 rounds in the last twelve months *Led*](https://millionrounds.com/fund/scaleup-europe-fund)
- [**EQT's Scaleup Europe Fund** 5 rounds in the last twelve months *Led*](https://millionrounds.com/fund/eqt-s-scaleup-europe-fund)

Also in the round

- [Bpifrance](https://millionrounds.com/fund/bpifrance)
- [Balderton Capital](https://millionrounds.com/fund/balderton-capital)
- [Cherry Ventures](https://millionrounds.com/fund/cherry-ventures)
- [Vsquared Ventures](https://millionrounds.com/fund/vsquared-ventures)
- [Plural](https://millionrounds.com/fund/plural)
- [EQT](https://millionrounds.com/fund/eqt)
- [Promus Ventures](https://millionrounds.com/fund/promus-ventures)
- [Red River West](https://millionrounds.com/fund/red-river-west)

## Funding history

- September 2026 Series C **$450M**
- November 2024 Series B **$160M**

$610M raised across the 2 rounds we hold.

## Reported by

- Firms' own news pages
- europeanspaceflight.com 8 September
- Promus Ventures 8 September
- resiliencemedia.co 8 September
- spacenews.com 8 September
- Ventureburn 8 September
- voxelmatters.com 9 September

The round's figures come from these reports; each link opens the original.

## Other big rounds that week

[T **The Boring Co.** $3.0B Growth](https://millionrounds.com/news/rounds/the-boring-co-growth-round-2026-09)[**Mach Industries** $600M Series C](https://millionrounds.com/news/rounds/mach-industries-series-c-2026-09)[**Cognition** $2.0B Series E](https://millionrounds.com/news/rounds/cognition-series-e-2026-09)[**Harvey** $550M Growth](https://millionrounds.com/news/rounds/harvey-growth-round-2026-09)[R **Rightway Healthcare** $155M Series E](https://millionrounds.com/news/rounds/rightway-healthcare-series-e-2026-09)[**Clay** $115M Series D](https://millionrounds.com/news/rounds/clay-series-d-2026-09)

[The company **The Exploration Company on Millionrounds** *→*](https://millionrounds.com/company/the-exploration-company)[Weekly roundup **Week of 7 September** *→*](https://millionrounds.com/news/weekly/2026-09-07)[Monthly roundup **September 2026** *→*](https://millionrounds.com/news/monthly/2026-09)

**How this article is made**

We write one for every equity round of $100M or more that at least two sources reported. It is put together from our record of rounds, not rewritten from the reports: the ranks and medians count every equity round we read in the twelve months to the round's date. [How we read rounds](https://millionrounds.com/methodology) · [Report a mistake](https://millionrounds.com/corrections)