The Tangwall Campagin. You were one of the first in France to bet financially on strategic sovereignty. What motivated this commitment?
Charles Beigbeder. It is above all a patriotic conviction. I am proud of my continent and I refuse to allow it to become a vassal of the United States or, worse, of China. Europe is a great economic and academic power, but we have long suffered from a deficit in venture capital compared to the Americans. What makes me want to get up in the morning is to bring out world-class technology companies of French and European origin so that we hold our place. Either we agree to be servants or we act as a sovereign and independent power.
You have invested heavily in NewSpace via your Expansion fund. How to democratize a sector that many still consider inaccessible?
Space is no longer just a matter of conquering the Moon or Mars for NASA; it has become a “normal” business space. Thanks to new technologies, costs have been divided by 1,000. Today, we can launch constellations of satellites into low orbit for a million euros, where it previously cost a billion.
We support gems like HyPrSpace, which develops disruptive hybrid engines. The idea is not to leave the monopoly to SpaceX and to build, for example, a European Starlink.
Your Straton fund is tackling defense financing. How did you manage to overcome the financial “ethical barrier” that surrounded this sector?
This lock is being blown. Even institutions like the European Investment Bank (EIB) are changing their rules to finance defense. With Straton, we finance SMEs in the Defense Industrial and Technological Base (BITD) to help them double their production rates. If we want to avoid war in Europe, we need credible conventional deterrence that discourages the adversary. This involves investing in drones, military satellites and even directed energy weapons.
As an investor, how do you view the entrepreneurs you support? What advice do you give them?
The entrepreneur is the modern-day explorer. Above all, I am looking for founders driven by an ambitious vision, capable of aiming for global leadership. My role at Audacia is to be a catalyst: we bring capital, but also a network, and experience learned from past mistakes. Storytelling is a crucial aspect in which the French must progress: our engineers are brilliant, but they must learn to tell a story, to share a dream to mobilize investors and partners.
You plead for a liberal shift and a profound reform of savings in Europe. What is the model to follow?
Europe has 35,000 billion euros in savings, but it is trapped in real estate and interest rate products. It’s catastrophic. We should follow the Swedish model. In Sweden, 40% of savings are invested in stocks thanks to solid financial education and tax-attractive savings accounts. We must deregulate, stop overprotecting savers to the point of dissuading them from taking risks. Risk-taking is life.
In the age of NewSpace and the galactic ambitions of figures like Elon Muskdo you necessarily have to be a billionaire to be an explorer in the 21st century?
No, absolutely not. For me, modern-day explorers are above all entrepreneurs, and they are not necessarily rich to begin with. An entrepreneur often starts without great means, but with a good idea and a vision in which he firmly believes. It is his audacity, sometimes tinged with a touch of madness, which allows him to seek out and convince financiers.
“I’m looking for founders who aim for global leadership”
Just look at history: Christopher Columbus was not a rich man, he was a Genoese who had to go to the Spanish court to persuade Isabella the Catholic and Ferdinand to invest in his expedition. Today, the pattern remains the same: the explorer is the one who has the strategic vision and who manages to mobilize investors to transform a dream into an industrial or technological reality. Wealth is not the starting point, it is the ability to drive capital towards daring projects that defines today’s explorer.
Beyond the numbers, you often talk about your dreams, such as seeing space factories capable of producing in microgravity…
Absolutely. Microgravity makes it possible to synthesize molecules perfect for cancer drugs, with fewer side effects. It’s fascinating. In the longer term, I dream of humanity conquering the solar system. My Catholic faith also leads me to ask myself dizzying questions about the existence of other forms of intelligence in the universe. I am not a blissful optimist, I am a man of hope. I believe in man’s ability to push back boundaries, provided he has the freedom and financial means.
NewSpace towards a third industrial revolution?
Modular factories directly assembled in orbit, space centers on the Moon capable of refueling rockets bound for Mars: NewSpace still looks like science fiction, but Charles Beigbeder, in NewSpace, the economy conquering the cosmos (Eyrolles), wants to make it a reality. For this aerospace engineer, the future of humanity will be played out 200 km above the Earth, in a “new industrial revolution” linked to the conquest of the interplanetary void.
With its Expansion Ventures fund, created in 2024, it has invested 55 million euros in 22 participations, making Audacia, its parent company, one of the main players in European aerospace venture capital. Risky bets while the continent remains dependent on the United States in this area, but which the investor considers strategic. “The issue of lunar and asteroidal resources, with the precious minerals they contain, is far from being anecdotal. And Europe must be a major player in this economic revolution. If the Americans and Chinese have taken a big lead, there is a possibility of overtaking them from the right thanks to disruptive technologies. And European genius will be the catalyst! » he assures.
