Nebex Launches €100M Industrial Return Initiative in France

Nebex, the commercial exchange for the global space economy, today launched a €100M Industrial Return Initiative in France. The initiative connects French space startups with global contract opportunities while creating a new model for France to achieve 100% industrial return on cross-border space spending.

The Industrial Return Problem

Industrial return is a longstanding expectation in most national space programs. When governments invest taxpayer money in space, they expect economic benefits at home through contracts, jobs, and investment in their own space ecosystem. At the same time, many of the capabilities governments need are developed internationally, creating a challenge for countries seeking to balance global access with domestic economic value.

Government space spending reached $138 billion in 2025, according to Novaspace. As demand for space capabilities expands globally, supply remains concentrated, with more than 85% of available space supply in the U.S. and Europe. Nebex estimates this imbalance represents a $70 billion export gap annually.

“While space sovereignty is the political frame, we all know that no country reaches orbit alone. What has been missing from the space economy is a way to collaborate through competition and cooperation, without each transaction becoming a bilateral barter negotiation,” said Tejpaul Bhatia, CEO of Nebex. “Every government wants access to the best technology in the world while supporting its own industrial base. Until now, those goals have often been viewed as a tradeoff. Nebex was built to create a model where countries can access global capabilities while maintaining domestic economic value. France, with its foundational role in the creation of ESA, and the institutions, infrastructure, and startup ecosystem built around that legacy, is the natural place to start.”

What Nebex delivers

Nebex’s Industrial Return Initiative is designed to enable France to access the best space capabilities globally while preserving economic value for the French space ecosystem.

For eligible cross-border space spending conducted through the Nebex framework, Nebex allocates an equivalent amount of commercial value for participating French space companies. This means that €1 of eligible foreign space spending can be matched by €1 of industrial return to France.

The initiative can apply across a broad range of existing and planned space procurement, including human spaceflight, launch, satellites, hardware, software, data and other space services. It can also recognize qualifying foreign space expenditures already made by France, creating the potential to turn existing international spending into new commercial opportunities for French companies.

French companies participating in the initiative gain access to Nebex’s global network of sovereign buyers, commercial opportunities and capital.

The initiative is open to every French space startup, with priority given to venture-backed companies. Venture-backed founders can access the platform by asking their investors for a private invite code. All other startups interested in participating can join the waitlist at https://invite.nebex.com/

Nebex has already established a European presence, appointing Manlio Di Stefano, former Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy, as Vice President of Global Markets based in Rome and Etienne Cassuto, former venture innovation lead at Pernod Ricard responsible for sending the first champagne bottle to the ISS with CNES, to lead French operations based in Paris.

Nebex is in conversations with financial institutions in France to develop financial products and services specifically dedicated to the French space supply chain. The launch follows the invite-only rollout of the Nebex platform, a $30 million seed round led by GV (Google Ventures), and a banking relationship with J.P. Morgan.

About Nebex

Nebex is the commercial exchange for the global space economy, connecting space companies directly to sovereign buyers and the capital that moves deals. Founded by former Axiom Space executives and serial entrepreneurs Tejpaul Bhatia and Anand Subramanian, Nebex’s mission is to build a functioning space economy, where money moves through the space industry the way it moves through every other market on Earth. Nebex is backed by GV, Eniac Ventures, 2048 Ventures, Better Tomorrow Ventures, Oceans Ventures, AIN Ventures, Also Capital, Anagram, Armory Square Ventures, Multiball Capital, Trajectory Capital, and VSC Ventures. For more information, visit https://www.nebex.com

Contact Information

Eric Gonzalez

Partner

VSC for Nebex

nebex@vsc.co