The Spanish company PLD Space is one of the 10 Spanish companies selected to be part of the 'Scaling Club' of the European Innovation Council (EIC), manager of the European Union funds dedicated to promoting innovative advances with the greatest potential. The company, the only Spanish company in the space sector, participated this week in the Scale 100 Forum event held in Athens (Greece).
Therefore, the European Innovation Council officially welcomed 120 companies dedicated to developing deep tech that are now part of this club. So far, 48 companies were already members and the remaining 72 joined, among which PLD Space stands out.
The selected companies come from more than 24 countries across Europe and cover a wide variety of markets, focusing on three main areas: digital, climate and health. PLD Space - one of the 10 selected Spanish scale ups - focuses on the space market. The company has recently announced that it is not only working on MIURA 5, the orbital rocket that is scheduled to fly by the end of 2025, but also on other projects that will allow it to lead European space sovereignty in cargo and manned missions beyond Earth.
On one hand, PLD Space has announced the new MIURA Next family of reusable rockets, composed of MIURA Next, MIURA Next Heavy and NEXT Super Heavy with the capacity to place up to 53 tons in orbit. In this regard, the company plans to carry out the first flight of MIURA Next in 2030.
On the other hand, PLD Space has presented LINCE, the first commercial manned capsule developed in Europe, which will make it possible to take astronauts into space and return them to Earth. The company expects its first tests in 2025 and its first unmanned test flight in 2028.
In this sense, PLD Space's integration into the Scaling Club opens a great opportunity for the company to connect not only with hundreds of colleagues, but also with other market stakeholders such as investors, corporate innovators and partners
In addition, the European Innovation Council initiative aims to accelerate the growth of all its members by offering companies like PLD Space from fundraising support and talent search to mentoring and leadership coaching and media visibility.
Being part of this community reinforces PLD Space's leadership in the space industry considering that the selection is very thorough and carried out by investors who bet on growing companies, with a solid management based on innovative technology and with a high impact potential. These experts have taken into consideration the business idea of each candidate, its scalability and the team behind them and, therefore, consider that these companies, such as PLD Space, are well positioned to address key global challenges within their respective industries.
