PAVE Space Raises USD 40m in Seed Financing

Niederer Kraft Frey advised PAVE Space on landmark seed round.

PAVE Space, a Swiss space infrastructure company headquartered in Lausanne, has raised USD 40 million in seed funding to develop a new generation of spacecraft designed to move satellites rapidly between orbits. The investment – one of the largest seed investments in the global space sector in recent years – will enable PAVE Space to transition from development into real-world testing and early commercial operations.

Founded in 2024 by Julie Böhning (CEO) and Jérémy Marciacq (CTO) – who began building rockets together as students at EPFL – PAVE Space is developing a family of orbital transfer vehicles (OTVs) capable of transporting satellites from low Earth orbit (LEO) to higher-energy destinations, including geostationary orbit (GEO), medium Earth orbit (MEO), and lunar trajectories, in under 24 hours. The technology directly addresses one of the most pressing logistical bottlenecks of the rapidly expanding space economy.

PAVE Space’s flagship product, a heavy kickstage vehicle, delivers satellites to higher-energy orbits quickly and reliably. By replacing the conventional electric orbit-raising process, the platform substantially reduces mission timelines and overall mission costs. This capability is attracting growing interest from both commercial operators and defense and institutional customers requiring rapid, flexible orbital mobility.

Alongside its flagship system, PAVE Space is developing a smaller, mobile platform purpose-built for responsive missions and dual-use applications, enabling satellites and payloads to reposition across orbital slots with speed and precision.

PAVE Space’s seed financing was led by Visionaries Club and Creandum, with participation from Lombard Odier Investment Managers, Atlantic Labs, Sistafund, b2venture, ACE Investment Partners, Ilavaska Vuillermoz Capital, Pareto and Motier Ventures. 

The NKF team was led by Corporate/M&A and Technology partner Jacques Bonvin, working alongside partner Andrea Wuerzner (Corporate/M&A), associates Boris Catzeflis (Corporate/Technology) and Luisa Egli (Corporate/IT/IP), and counsel Marc Vogelsang (Tax).