A Vienna startup has secured €6.9 million to build a spacecraft that survives a fiery return through Earth’s atmosphere, betting that round-trip access to microgravity will unlock demand from researchers who have never flown before.
The announcement lands just months after Tumbleweed completed its first orbital mission, a milestone that triggered what the company describes as a surge of inbound interest. Researchers in pharmaceuticals, materials science, and fundamental physics increasingly need brief stints in weightlessness. Yet most lack the hardware, expertise, or budget to build a dedicated satellite.
Tumbleweed’s answer: Oasis Beta, an in-orbit research vehicle designed for reentry, with first missions targeting 2028. The fresh capital also funds at least three flights of the company’s Pod payload in 2027, spanning both suborbital and orbital trajectories.
Pact VC led the round. Vanagon Ventures, Prototype Capital, EWOR, and several angel investors also joined, among them SES cofounder Candace Johnson.
The company’s debut satellite, Oasis Alpha, rode SpaceX’s Transporter-17 rideshare in July. During that flight, the platform hosted microgravity experiments for four separate customers. Since then, Tumbleweed has doubled down on a singular goal: becoming the fastest, cheapest route to orbit for first-time payload operators.
Part of that strategy involves late payload integration. On an upcoming mission, the company plans to demonstrate loading cargo shortly before launch. Such a capability could enable experiments using live biological samples or materials that degrade after weeks in storage.
“It’s a technical feat for sure. It’s also very much a procedural feat,” CEO Julian Rothenbuchner told Payload. “What we are basically pushing super-hard for in this market is to be the most actionable ones. To be the ones where, with minimal effort and minimal cost, you can launch something tomorrow.”
Rothenbuchner acknowledged that Tumbleweed continues evaluating partnerships with established reentry vehicle providers. Building Oasis Beta in parallel, however, gives the startup control over a larger slice of the value chain.
For now, the company races toward 2027. Three booked flights will test both the Pod platform and the late-loading process. Success could reshape how quickly terrestrial researchers reach space, and how easily their experiments come home.
