Hélène Huby, CEO of The Exploration Company: 'Only the crazy people change the world'

Hélène Huby, founder and CEO of spacetech startup The Exploration Company, is not afraid to take risks — or fail. Her company, which is only five years old, builds reusable and refillable vehicles to carry cargo to and from space stations in low-Earth orbit — and beyond. It’s already (semi-) successfully sent cargo into space — and back — at a fraction of the cost, and time, achieved by other companies. On this episode of the Sifted podcast, Hélène shares The Exploration Company’s roadmap for 2026, including fundraising plans for a “significant amount of money” to build a high-thrust rocket engine. Hélène and Amy also get into: Why the space industry is set to more than double in value over the next decade Collaborating in space during a decidedly antagonistic geopolitical moment Contracts in the works The ideal funding roadmap for a deeptech company Dealing with very public failure as a CEO And Hélène’s hopes and dreams for Europe’s space future

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Hélène Huby, CEO of The Exploration Company: 'Only the crazy people change the world' is an episode from Startup Europe — The Sifted Podcast by Sifted.

This episode is 50:05 long.

This episode was published on Mar 13, 2026.

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