Arielle Zuckerberg firm invests in French space tech company Dark

By Sudip Kar-Gupta

PARIS (Reuters) - Arielle Zuckerberg, younger sister of Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg, has invested in French space technology company Dark via her venture capital firm Long Journey, the latest instance of a surge in funding for companies in the space sector.

Long Journey said Dark, which aims to prevent space debris from defunct satellites and the like from falling back to Earth, fitted with its portfolio of companies involved in space tech and followed its investments in Elon Musk's SpaceX and U.S. defence technology company Anduril.

"Anduril and SpaceX have reshaped entire industries through their bold ventures into uncharted territories," Zuckerberg, Long Journey general partner, said in a statement on Tuesday. "Dark, committed to advancing space security, shares this pioneering spirit as category-creators in this exciting new industry."

The statement said French investment company Eurazeo had led the latest fundraising for Dark totalling $6 million, in which Long Journey had participated, taking Dark's total of early stage funding to $11 million, though it did not say how much Long Journey had invested.

It also did not say what size of stake Eurazeo and Long Journey had bought. The companies added that venture capital firm Frst, which had already invested in Dark, had also participated in the latest fundraising.

The fundraising for Dark comes as the European Union and France try to ensure Europe keeps pace with the United States and China in terms of space technology, and reflects a trend of investment in the space sector generally.

Venture capital firm Space Capital said this month that funding for space startups rose to $6.5 billion in the first quarter ended March 31, up from $2.9 billion a year earlier.

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by David Holmes)