The Swiss startup, originating from EPFL’s student rocketry program that created Europe’s first student-made reusable rocket, has secured one of the largest seed rounds in European space. The funding was led by Visionaries Club and Creandum, with participation from Lombard Odier, Atlantic Labs, and Sistafund.
The satellite lifecycle has a built-in inefficiency. Launch vehicles typically deliver payloads to low Earth orbit due to it being the most cost-effective and accessible destination.
However, satellites that manage global communications, navigation, and defense intelligence systems operate in much higher orbits, such as geostationary, medium Earth orbit, and occasionally lunar.
The challenge of moving from the launch orbit to the operational orbit is referred to as “last-mile logistics in space.” Currently, this is managed through onboard electric propulsion, which operates slowly and precisely over six to twelve months.
PAVE Space, a startup established in Renens, Switzerland in 2024, is developing a fleet of orbital transfer vehicles to complete that journey in under 24 hours.
PAVE has raised $40 million in seed funding, one of the largest seed rounds in European space history, led by Visionaries Club and Creandum, with involvement from Lombard Odier Investment Managers, Atlantic Labs, Sistafund, b2venture, ACE Investment Partners, Ilavaska Vuillermoz Capital, and Pareto & Motier Ventures.
The funding will support hardware development for an in-orbit demonstration.
The company was co-founded by Julie Böhning, CEO, and Jérémy Marciacq, along with Simon Both, the same three engineers who initiated the Gruyère Space Program at EPFL in November 2018.
GSP was a student association with an ambitious goal: to design and fly a reusable, vertically-landing liquid-propellant rocket on a student budget. By October 2024, their demonstrator, Colibri, a 2.45-meter bipropellant VTVL rocket, had completed 53 flights, including a 105-meter free flight, all on a budget of about CHF 250,000.
It was the first reusable VTVL rocket ever built and flown by a student team. Once the program concluded, the founders transitioned the technology and know-how into PAVE Space.
The commercial rationale for rapid orbital transfer is clear and increasingly urgent. Over 12,000 active satellites are currently in orbit, with thousands launched annually.
Operators whose satellites are stuck in transit orbit for six months cannot serve customers, generate revenue, and face increased risks from debris and interference.
For defense clients, the timeline issue is even more critical: the capability to quickly reposition a satellite into a new orbit in response to a threat is something current electric propulsion cannot provide.
PAVE’s OTVs utilize storable bipropellant propulsion instead of cryogenic fuels, which evaporate at room temperature and hinder long orbital loiters.
The trade-off, a slightly lower specific impulse for indefinite shelf life and operational flexibility, is the key technical decision behind the vehicle’s design.
The dual-use commercial and defense market is the most comparable segment in European space: launch providers like Arianespace and RocketLab, as well as in-space services firms like D-Orbit and Exotrail, have all observed that European defense procurement accelerates when a credible domestic alternative to US or Chinese systems is available.
PAVE is making the same wager earlier, at the OTV level.