By Sudip Kar-Gupta
PARIS (Reuters ) – Arielle Zuckerberg is the younger sister of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. She has made an investment in French space tech company Dark through her venture capital firm Long Journey. This represents the latest example of a boom in financing for space companies.
Long Journey Said Dark, a project that aims to stop space debris, such as defunct satellites, from returning to Earth fitted into its space technology portfolio and was a follow-up to its investment in Elon Musk’s SpaceX, and U.S. Defence Technology Company Anduril.
In a Tuesday statement, Zuckerberg, Long Journey’s general partner, stated that “Anduril has reshaped whole industries with their bold forays into uncharted territory.” Dark, dedicated to improving space security, also shares the pioneering spirit of this new sector.
Long Journey and French investment firm Eurazeo led Dark’s latest funding round of $6 million. Dark has now received $11 million in early-stage financing.
The company also declined to disclose the size of Eurazeo’s and Long Journey’s stakes. They also added that Frst Venture Capital, who had previously invested in Dark had participated in this latest round of fundraising.
Dark’s fundraising comes at a time when the European Union, France and other countries are trying to keep up with space technology in comparison with China and the United States. It also reflects the trend in investment for the entire space industry.
Space Capital, a venture capital company, announced this month an increase in funding to $6.5 billion for the first quarter ending March 31. This is up from $2.9billion a year ago.
Reporting by Sudip K. Gupta, Editing by David Holmes