Bremen-based startup POLARIS Spaceplanes has announced that it has secured a multi-million-euro investment from the Swiss-based Aero Challenge Group (ACG).
POLARIS was founded in 2019 and is developing its AURORA multipurpose spaceplane and hypersonic transport system. During the take-off, landing, and pre-ignition flight phases, AURORA will be powered by four turbofan engines. The spaceplane’s two rocket engines will be ignited in flight to conduct orbital payload deployment or hypersonic testing. To deploy payloads into orbit, AURORA will employ a small expendable upper stage.
In addition to ACG’s multi-million-euro investment in POLARIS, the pair have also signed a memorandum of understanding with the aim of creating a long-term strategic partnership focused on making European spaceplanes a reality.
ACG is a holding company that was created in early 2023 to invest in and manage a portfolio of commercial aerospace companies. The company is owned by the Swiss-based AFK Enterprise, which is itself owned by the AFK Kumar Family Office. While there is little publicly available information about ACG and AFK Enterprise, the AFK Kumar Family Office maintains a website.
According to the website, Dr. Wolfgang Stemme is the only listed executive of ACG and has served as its Vice President since July 2023. Dr. Stemme does, however, not list the position on LinkedIn. In August 2023, it was reported, including by Dr. Stemme himself, that ACG would make a “double-digit million” investment in the twin-engine RS.500 aircraft. The RS.500 is being developed by ReinerStemme.aero, which is owned and operated by Dr. Stemme. Before POLARIS made its announcement, ReinerStemme.aero was the only company to receive an investment from ACG. This may, however, simply be down to the fact that ACG has only been around since July 2023.
ACG’s parent company, AFK Enterprise, and German space tech OHB announced in late 2022 that they had formed a joint company called DAH Beteiligungsgesellschaft. In December 2022, it was announced that DAH Beteiligungsgesellschaft had signed an agreement to acquire a stake in Deutsche Aircraft Holdings through a minority equity investment that would be utilized to develop the D328eco. The announcement did, however, explain that the agreement was subject to approval from the German government. There have been no updates regarding the transaction since this initial announcement. This appears to be the only deal associated with AFK Enterprise, which was founded in October 2021.
While a multi-million-euro new investment in POLARIS would be significant for the company, the opaque nature of this investment and the vehicles with which it was executed leave us with more questions than answers.
