Welcome to our 2026 update on PLD Space. For the long read, see our in-depth PLD Space review (refresh published October 2026). Follow us on X for updates.
🔥 Our 2026 PLD Space update:
- 🚀 Still no orbit as of October 2026. MIURA 1 flew 7 October 2023 (~46 km). MIURA 5 first demo from Kourou: H1 2027 (company, 10 Sep 2026), after public language that talked 2025 then 2026.
- 💰 Series C €288m (€180m Mar + €108m Sep). EIB €30m, CESCE loan €31.2m, PERTE/CDTI €40.5m, ESA ELC €158.9m. Company “€488m aggregate” mixes buckets. We keep equity, debt and contracts separate. We omit a Series C valuation (capital €401,202).
- 📄 Filed 2025 accounts (EY clean): sales €0.65m, result −€32.87m, assets €165.2m, Desarrollo €89.2m. Impairment test still assumed commercial launches in 2026 and €61.2m turnover in 2027, then PR moved the maiden to H1 2027. Across FY2019/20–FY2025 the assumed commercial year rolled 2023→2026 with no impairment.
- 👥 Headcount: memoria avg 195 / 351, YE 412, Jan 2026 430, company claim >550. Legal form S.A., Marie Curie 23, Elche, Sánchez / Torres / Verdú.
- 🛰 Specs: TEPREL-C, ESA up to 540 kg SSO, MIURA 9 rename, pads Kourou + Etlaq + Teruel + Elche.
Orbit / status
As of October 2026 PLD Space has still not reached orbit. The company did fly MIURA 1 on 7 October 2023 from El Arenosillo on a suborbital hop to roughly 46 km, and after public schedules that talked about a 2025 maiden and then a 2026 first flight, PLD said on 10 September 2026 that the first demonstration from Kourou is planned for the first half of 2027.
ESA put PLD on the European Launcher Challenge shortlist on 7 July 2025 (with Isar, MaiaSpace, Orbex and Rocket Factory Augsburg) and signed a €158.9 million ELC contract in late August 2026. Peer context: Isar’s Spectrum reached orbit on 5 September 2026, while HyImpulse and Latitude sit outside ELC. PLD has an ELC contract and Series C equity on the scale of the other shortlisted challengers, and has not reached orbit.
Spanish business press on 2 October 2026 reported that PLD wants a second launch pad at Kourou, has already invested about €35 million in its own installation for the MIURA 5 pilot flight, and is working a CNES study at ELM-Diamant for future vehicles including MIURA 9.
Money
Keep three piles:
- Equity: Series C €180 million (4 March 2026), extended by €108 million on 1 September 2026 to €288 million. Mitsubishi Electric €50 million, COFIDES, CDTI INNVIERTE, Nazca, later Endeavor Catalyst and SOPEF.
- Debt: €31.2 million CESCE-backed loan (Jul 2024, accounts: 80% CESCE, bullet 4 Jul 2026, ceiling raised to €39.2m in Dec 2025), €30 million EIB venture debt (Apr 2026).
- Grants / contracts: €40.5 million PERTE / CDTI (Jan 2024), ESA ELC €158.9 million (Aug 2026). Booked subvenciones in patrimonio neto at YE2025 were only €3.9 million.
The company says aggregate financing has reached €488 million. That figure mixes equity, debt and contracts, and it combines categories that we keep separate in the review. We omit a Series C valuation. Register capital is only €401,202 after the 23 June 2026 increases.
Named public and public-backed funding adds up to about €317m, including the ESA ELC €158.9m contract for development and launch services, against about €69m of named private funding and about €214m of mixed equity where the public/private split is undisclosed.
Company / accounts (2025 depósito)
Legal form is now Payload Aerospace, S.A. (transformation 28 June 2024), NIF A54585351, at Calle Marie Curie 23, Elche. Ezequiel Sánchez Executive President, Raúl Torres CEO / Consejero Delegado since 20 March 2025, Raúl Verdú co-founder. Auditor: EY, clean opinion 23 April 2026, with key audit matters on development capitalisation and going-concern recoverability.
| 2024 | 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| Sales (cifra de negocios) | €2.29m | €0.65m |
| Net result | −€18.69m | −€32.87m |
| Total assets | €109.3m | €165.2m |
| of which Desarrollo | €50.9m | €89.2m |
| Cash | €21.0m | €11.3m |
| Working capital | −€14.4m | −€58.4m |
Across the filed accounts from 2019/20 through 2025, the impairment test’s assumed first commercial launch year moved from 2023 → 2024 → 2025 → 2026 while capitalised Desarrollo grew from about €12m to €89m and was never impaired. The YE2025 test still assumed commercial launches in 2026 and €61.224 million of turnover in 2027 (23% discount). By September 2026 the company’s own PR had moved the first demo to H1 2027. Cumulative sales 2020–25 are about €4m. That multi-year gap between memorias and later NETs is the same class this site flagged in 2023 between SEGO and the memoria.
Headcount from the filed accounts: average 134 (2023, Perfil), 195 (2024) and 351 (2025), year-end 412 (2025), informe de gestión 430 in January 2026. Company materials say more than 550. Print the filed series and the company claim.
The impairment test’s assumed first commercial year rolled 2023→2026 while Desarrollo rose to €89m and was never written down.
Specs / sites
MIURA 5 (company): ~35.7 m, 2 m diameter, five TEPREL-C ~190 kN sea-level engines plus a vacuum TEPREL-C, RP-1/LOX. ESA still cites up to 540 kg SSO. In September 2026 PLD branded the old Block 1.2 upgrade as MIURA 9. Primary pad: Kourou ELM-Diamant. Second site: Etlaq, Oman. Test: Teruel. Heritage: El Arenosillo.
Etlaq (February 2025) is the second pad, and the first MIURA 5 demonstration is aimed at Kourou in the first half of 2027.
What we are watching
Watch whether H1 2027 holds against Kourou range scheduling, whether the next depósito impairs the €89m Desarrollo asset after the 2026 commercial assumption no longer matches the NET, whether the €35m “already invested” pad figure appears as a facility, how ELC milestones line up with slips, how Series C cash and the July 2026 CESCE bullet change working capital, and whether Etlaq moves from agreement text into site work.
Until MIURA 5 flies, payload reservations, cadence charts and “aggregate financing” headlines are company statements. The filed 2025 accounts show €0.65m sales, −€32.9m result, €89m capitalised development, and a clean EY opinion with going-concern KAMs. Full analysis: PLD Space in-depth review.
