Switzerland’s PAVE Space Closes $40 Million Seed Funding Round
Swiss space‑mobility startup PAVE Space announced on 25 March that it has closed a $40 million seed funding round led by European venture‑capital firms Visionaries Club and Creandum. The financing positions the company to launch its first in‑orbit demonstration mission, dubbed GRAZE, later in the year and to accelerate development of its flagship LYOBA heavy‑lift kick stage. Founded in 2024 as a spin‑off from the student‑run Gruyère Space Programme, PAVE Space is based in Switzerland and targets rapid satellite transport between orbital altitudes.
The seed capital will fund the design, ground‑testing and flight‑qualification of the LYOBA stage, which is sized to lift up to five tonnes to orbit, as well as the construction of a small high‑mobility orbital platform called IBEX. PAVE Space plans its first propulsion‑system firing at a decommissioned thermal power plant in Valais, Switzerland, with the test campaign slated for the summer. The GRAZE demonstrator, built in three months, is intended to de‑risk the company’s avionics architecture and is scheduled for launch in October. In addition to the seed round, the firm reports eight reservation agreements with satellite operators and manufacturers and ongoing talks with several major industry players.
The funding round underscores growing investor confidence in European orbital‑logistics capabilities as the space economy moves toward an industrial phase. By establishing a heavy‑lift kick stage and a reusable orbital platform, PAVE Space aims to provide Europe with sovereign logistics infrastructure that can move, operate and scale satellite constellations beyond Earth. The company’s rapid progression from a university project that completed more than 50 flights to a commercial venture with a multi‑million‑dollar seed round illustrates the accelerating pace of private‑sector activity in the continent’s emerging space‑mobility market.
