THROUGH INVESTING IN CUTTING-EDGE SPACE TECHNOLOGIES, WE INVEST IN THE FUTURE OF SOCIETY.

The space industry is undergoing a revolution, rapidly accelerating to new, previously unseen altitudes.
HERIUS

We are a thematic private equity and venture capital fund bolstering the Central and Eastern European space ecosystem by investing in pioneers creating true societal and commercial value to benefit humanity in the short- to mid-term.

„Global mandate with a special focus on Central and Eastern Europe.”

We aim to fill a gap that currently exists in the investment domain in the burgeoning space sector of the Central and Eastern European region. Herius has a strong track record in the CEE region and is comprised of a team of seasoned venture capitalists with complementary skillsets who have worked together in the past. We pride ourselves on having a disciplined data-driven investment strategy. With that, we carefully evaluate the viability, scalability, and societal benefit of each idea and investment opportunity to invest in future market-leading companies in the NewSpace industry.

meet our team

Our mission

“Through investing in cutting-edge space and aerospace technologies, we invest in the future of society.”

We are a fund that seeks out investment opportunities with true societal and commercial value, proven through scientific, engineering, and commercial results, that will benefit society in the short- to mid-term. We invest in companies across key value chains of the entire space ecosystem to contribute to the development of society.

“Through conscious systems architecting, we will make the CEE space technology ecosystem more robust and a cornerstone of the global space industry.”

Our long-term aim is to unlock the growth potential of the CEE space sector, and through the increasing robustness and resilience of this region, drive the growth of the global space market. Herius’ investment strategy plays a key role in helping the emergence of a new generation of successful space engineers, scientists, and entrepreneurs in the CEE region and globally.

Why herius

Investing in SpaceTech

Today, the space industry is undergoing a revolution, rapidly accelerating to new, previously unseen altitudes. The entry conditions have changed, and at the dawn of a new era with greater private investments and more emerging nations joining, new entrants are presented with a unique, potentially one-off breakout opportunity. Launch and manufacturing costs have decreased dramatically, due to a series of new technological innovations driven by commercial stakeholders, making it easier for new entrants to disrupt the industry and become successful.  

The shift in space economics

01
Technological advances are overturning traditional models for operating in space as low-cost access to space becomes a reality with innovations such as reusable rockets. The cost of building and launching a satellite has dropped more than a hundredfold since 2010.

Sizable Impact

02
Space technology plays a unique role in tackling the world’s most pressing problems. Space technology will enable connectivity and autonomous mobility while addressing the crises facing climate, sustainability and population growth.

Long-term growth

03
Space is at the nexus of several long-term megatrends, including autonomous transport, smart cities, climate change mitigation, Internet of Things (“IoT”), 3D printing, and the proliferation of Artificial Intelligence.
450
Size of space
sector in 2020
1
Expected size of the
space sector in 2040
185
Capital invested
since 2010
12
Size of space-enabled
economic activity

CEE Space Ecosystem

Herius is the first thematic private equity and venture capital fund focusing on the Central and Eastern European space ecosystem while targeting Europe as a whole.
„Global mandate with a special focus on Central and Eastern Europe.”

Herius was established to become the first Central and Eastern European specialist investor in cutting-edge space technologies. We invest globally but also have a unique focus on the CEE region, a region with a rich heritage in science and engineering, unique strengths in innovation, and unparalleled potential for growth in Europe. Through a strong network in the region, we are building a state-of-the-art pipeline that others often find difficult to understand and penetrate, which will allow Herius to generate alpha for our investors.

VALUE proposition

Investing in the exponentially growing and attractive space sector, using a unique data-driven approach, focusing on investments that can deliver strong viability and benefits to society.
Focus on the CEE region and emerging space markets that are full of potential and deeply relevant to aerospace technology, but beyond the reach of traditional investors.
Flexible investment strategy and capital to support companies in different stages of development. Strong expected returns from a balanced portfolio of higher risk, early stage companies as well as stable and mature companies.
Experienced investment team that previously worked together at leading Hungarian investment management companies.
Deep network of investors, entrepreneurs and technical experts working in cutting edge areas of the industry, leveraging the fund’s geographical, financial, and technological context in a region that serves as a hub and bridge between Western and Eastern markets.
Our ultimate goal is to ignite diversity and thought-out environmental sustainability within the region through our investments. We believe that sustainable values and strategy mandates can contribute to a company’s long-term financial performance and can provide better risk-adjusted returns to investors.

Herius’ investment objective is to generate capital growth over the long term through strengthening the space ecosystem in the CEE region and globally to create a self-sustaining and self-reinforcing market driving continuous growth through positive feedback loops.

We take pride in following a holistic and data-driven investment strategy where our decisions are underpinned by thorough technical analysis and a deep understanding of the space industry, not only in its full technical complexity, but also in its unique interactions with other industries and macro trends.

Our team

Herius Capital has a proven and dedicated team of investments professionals and industry experts operating in the space market that previously worked together at leading Hungarian investment management companies. The Team also has many years of experience in supporting portfolio companies and has an extensive network of M&A advisors.

Dr. István Sárhegyi

Founder
Istvan is an astropreneur, space angel and lawyer, founder of Herius Capital with an intention to boost the ecosystem of the space industry in the CEE region. He set up a JV to launch and operate Hungary’s first geostationary satellite for commercial, governmental, and scientific research and will start to operate in 2024. He is the co-owner of REMRED Ltd., one of the leading space technology companies in Hungary, focusing on the manufacturing and testing of space equipment.
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Dr. Kornél Szabó

CEO
Kornél has 20 years of experience in the international capital market, M&A and private equity transactions gained in top tier law firms in Budapest and Brussels (Allen&Overy, White&Case, DLA Piper). A veteran space and STEM enthusiast with over 100 deals worth over 30 billion USD, he regularly advises local and multinational groups in the aviation, technology, and financial sectors with a specific focus on venture capital and private equity firms.
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Andrea Novák

CFO/COO
Andrea has more than 12 years of finance and private equity experience. Before Herius, Andrea served as the Head of Fund Administration at Oriens Investment Management, a middle-market private equity firm investing in the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia with $150 M of AUM. Andrea also worked at BlackRock, the world’s leading asset manager. She started her career at the Budapest Stock Exchange where she spent 7 years and held the Deputy Financial Director position.
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Sebastian Misurák

Investment Manager
Sebastian is an innovation enthusiast and financial expert with more than 3 years of experience in the venture capital industry. Before joining Herius, Sebastian earned an MSc degree in Knowledge-based Entrepreneurship from the University of Gothenburg and worked as a business developer in the energy industry. Sebastian wrote his MSc thesis on Silicon Valley’s VC landscape and has wide-ranging working experience along the specific financial and investing value chains.
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Kaja Hopej

Advisor

Kaja is a space lawyer and an advisor on the Polish space sector. Kaja is associated with the Polish Space Law Task Force operating at Kozminski University. She holds an influential position at Greenberg Traurig Poland, focusing on the capital markets. She is a Law graduate at the University of Kraków and has a degree from EDHEC Business School. She is currently writing her Ph.D. in cooperation with the Ferenc Madl Institute of Comparative Law in Budapest.

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Marcell Sitányi

Investment Director
Marcell has more than 8 years of finance and private equity experience. Prior to Herius, Marcell served as Senior Investment Manager at HiVentures, a leading Hungarian VC with $520 million of AUM. At HiVentures, he led 10 investments in various sectors, deploying nearly $20 million and was a board member of 9 companies. Marcell started his career at the Budapest Stock Exchange and also worked in London as a financial analyst.
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Advisory Board
The Fund is supplemented by an international Advisory Board creating genuine value through their significant industry expertise and experiences, networks and ideas to further strengthen Herius’ “bridge” function between East and West.
The members of the Board have a deep knowledge of the entire space ecosystem and the value chain in general, the latest macro trends, both in global and local/CEE terms. Thanks to their unique experience and wide network, they play a key role in the future success of investment targets.

Dr. hab. Katarzyna Malinowska

Board member
Professor of Kozminski University, attorney at law, and an expert in risk management and insurance, including space insurance. Author of at least several dozen publications on the above. Her main book concerns Space insurance. International legal aspects’ (Kluwer Law International, 2017). A frequent speaker at Polish and international academic and industry conferences. Head of the Centre for Space Studies at Kozminski University and leader of the postgraduate studies ‘Entrepreneurship in the space industry. Expert at the Committee of the Enterprise Risk Management at the International Astronautical Federation. Head of Working Group on Polish Space Law at Kozminski University, advising Ministry of Development and Polish Space Agency in the works on the Polish law on space activity. Member of the International Institute of Space Law.
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Pedro Duque

Board member
Aerospace Engineer at the Madrid Polytechnic University UPM. Pedro started his career at GMV, where he acquired expertise in Orbital Computations and led the corresponding team at ESOC, the Operations Centre of ESA. As a selected Astronaut, he underwent multiple training courses, acquiring experience in Russia, the USA, Japan, and Canada in addition to Europe in 1992. He is a veteran of two space flights; Discovery STS-95 and Soyuz TMA-3. He became the CEO of Deimos Imaging, an Earth Observation company with its satellites, a position he held until 2011. He was a board member of AENA (the largest airport operator in the world) for almost three years. The Board oversaw the listing of the Company on the stock exchange after being fully state-owned. He served in the Government of Spain as Minister for Research and Innovation for 3 years until very recently.
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Jan Wörner

Board member
ESA Director General from 2015 until 2021. He studied civil engineering at the Technical University (TU) Berlin and TU Darmstadt. In 1994, he founded his own civil engineering office, Woerner Nordhues engineering, being active in many fields including safety, earthquake, and glass engineering. He has received honorary doctorates from multiple universities worldwide, from New York to Paris. He was a member of the administrative boards of École Centrale Paris, École Centrale de Lyon, TU Berlin, the Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon, the Arts and Music University in Frankfurt and has been a member of several supervisory boards including Carl Schenck AG, Röhm GmbH, TÜV Rheinland AG and Bilfinger SE. From 2007 to 2015, he was Chairman of the Executive Board of the German Aerospace Center (DLR). Before joining ESA as Director-General, he was head of the German delegation to ESA. Currently, he is the president of acatech, the German Academy of Science and Engineering.

Experts in
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together

We are specialists in space technology investment all across the globe. Let’s develop and work together for a better future!

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Started with the Wright brothers,
we go beyond together.

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1022 Budapest, Hungary

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