Venturi Space, a Monaco-based company focused on space mobility, says it will invest €250 million (about $270 million) to build a major technology center in Toulouse, France—part of a push to manufacture vehicles designed for lunar and Martian exploration.
The announcement was made June 1, 2026, at the Palace of Versailles during the French government’s “Choose France” summit, an annual event aimed at attracting foreign investment. Venturi Space President Gildo Pallanca Pastor framed the move as a step-change for the company: “We have the technologies, the experience and the partners to go further.”
Venturi Space France has been registered in the Toulouse metro area since January 2024, with its headquarters at the Parc technologique du Canal in Ramonville-Saint-Agne. The Versailles announcement formalizes an expansion the company says it has been preparing in Toulouse for the past two and a half years.
A 172,000-square-foot site built to assemble the next generation of rovers
The planned center will span 16,000 square meters—about 172,000 square feet—and concentrate design and assembly work for “astromobiles” meant to operate in extreme environments. The company says teams will focus on high-performance batteries, “hyper-deformable” wheels, and energy-management systems—technology areas it argues few players in Europe fully control.
“This site will be Venturi Space’s flagship in Europe,” said Dr. Antonio Delfino, the company’s director of space affairs, adding that teams “will work on critical technologies, the integration of complex systems and the assembly of astromobiles designed to evolve in the most extreme environments.”
Venturi Space says the Toulouse project will create 200 highly skilled jobs by 2030, targeting engineers and space technicians. Financially, the €250 million (about $270 million) total includes an additional €150 million (about $162 million) on top of commitments already made, according to Le Figaro.
NASA’s Artemis timeline gives the Toulouse investment real weight
The company’s pitch is tied to a concrete program milestone: NASA has selected the CLV-1 rover from Venturi Astrolab—Venturi Space’s U.S. partner—to transport astronauts on the Moon starting in 2028 under the Artemis program. That selection, the article notes, turns the Toulouse buildout into an industrial decision rather than a showroom promise.
The schedule is tight. With Artemis requiring operational readiness by 2028, Venturi Space must ramp up quickly in Toulouse—meaning the 200 hires planned by 2030 would be spread over less than four years, in a local aerospace and space labor market already under strain.
The article also points to the scale of France’s aerospace sector, which recorded more than €85 billion (about $92 billion) in revenue in 2025, a record. Venturi Space is moving into a region that already concentrates Airbus, CNES (France’s national space agency), and a dense network of specialized suppliers—an ecosystem the company is counting on to staff up.
Mona Luna: a parallel bet on a fully European rover
Beyond Artemis, Venturi Space is also positioning a European track. The Mona Luna rover—presented in 2025 at Toulouse’s Cité de l’Espace museum and science center—is described as entirely designed in Europe, with deployment envisioned around 2030 and assembly planned for the future Toulouse site.
The article says that dual strategy—supporting a U.S.-led program while building a European autonomy play—is part of what appeals to French public decision-makers. It would place Toulouse not only as a supplier to a foreign agency, but as an integration site serving two distinct markets, aligning with the Choose France summit’s focus on long-term, technology-driven investment rather than simple production relocation.
Venturi Space is also developing outposts in Switzerland and Monaco, but the company says Toulouse will now concentrate the bulk of its industrial effort.
Occitanie’s space and defense tech cluster gets another boost
At the same Choose France summit, the Occitanie region also landed an investment from Portuguese drone manufacturer Tekever: €100 million (about $108 million) over five years and 100 jobs locally, bringing Tekever’s cumulative commitment to €200 million (about $216 million) and 200 jobs in total. Together, the two announcements reinforce the region’s standing as a destination for defense and exploration technologies.
For Venturi Space, the next steps are practical: secure land, begin hiring, and deliver a first operational rover before Artemis astronauts return to the lunar surface. The 2028 target leaves little room for delay.
