Celestia, a group of high-tech space technology companies across Europe, has joined forces with Waterland, a European buy and build investor, with the aim of accelerating its growth and becoming a leading player in its market.
Celestia operates in the UK, The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Germany and the US. Celestia has achieved significant growth, both organic as well as through acquisitions. Starting in 1996 as a one-man company, Celestia has evolved to become a group with 240 employees and more than €35 million in sales.
The investment by Waterland and its strategic support will help Celestia to accelerate its highly ambitious strategic roadmap. Celestia will maintain its current management team, with José Alonso as Director.
Waterland is an independent private equity investment group active throughout Europe, with offices in nine countries and €8 billion of assets under management. Waterland is active in growing markets and supports entrepreneurs in realising their growth ambitions. Since its founding in 1999, Waterland has consistently achieved top tier investment performance. To date, Waterland has made investments in over 700 companies.
Celestia owner, José Alonso, commented: “When celebrating our 25th anniversary, I faced the decision to keep the growth at the same pace, as usual, or alternatively try to become a much larger and stronger player. In companies with key strategic R&D developments, ambitious M&A agenda and robust organic growth, capital is always in short supply to run faster. The possibility of joining forces with Waterland, with its buy and build track record, gives us the chance to achieve our audacious goal of €500 million turnover before the end of this decade.”
Waterland partner, Wouter Roduner, commented: “José and his team have built Celestia into an innovative space technology company, both in ground station equipment and satellite components. As more and more satellites are being launched, this leads to a proliferation of market opportunities, for example telecoms, navigation, remote sensing, space debris and space exploration, and so on. We are excited to support Celestia in accelerating its roadmap to support its customers more effectively in their growth trajectories.”