Hélène Huby, CEO of The Exploration Company: 'Only the crazy people change the world'

Hélène Huby, founder and CEO of spacetech startup The Exploration Company, is not afraid to take risks — or fail.

Her company, which is only five years old, builds reusable and refillable vehicles to carry cargo to and from space stations in low-Earth orbit — and beyond.

It’s already (semi-) successfully sent cargo into space — and back — at a fraction of the cost, and time, achieved by other companies.

On this episode of the Sifted podcast, Hélène shares The Exploration Company’s roadmap for 2026, including fundraising plans for a “significant amount of money” to build a high-thrust rocket engine.

Hélène and Amy also get into:

• Why the space industry is set to more than double in value over the next decade
• Collaborating in space during a decidedly antagonistic geopolitical moment
• Contracts in the works
• The ideal funding roadmap for a deeptech company
• Dealing with very public failure as a CEO
• And Hélène’s hopes and dreams for Europe’s space future