Bulent Altan is a Founding Partner of Alpine Space Ventures, Europe’s leading venture capital firm investing in early stage companies focusing on foundational solutions that fuel the space industry’s commercialization.
Bulent is a NewSpace veteran having spent his two decades in this industry in the most cutting-edge and disruptive space companies.
Bulent began his career as one of the first employees at the then newly-established SpaceX in 2004, having graduated from Stanford University and following completion of his studies at the Technical University of Munich.
At SpaceX, he was essential in growing the company’s avionics department from seven people to over 200 and was as Vice-President responsible for the avionics of the Falcon rockets as well as the Dragon capsule. In his latest role for the company Bulent was Vice-President of Satellite Mission Assurance for SpaceX’s Starlink satellite mega-constellation.
Bulent left SpaceX from 2014 to 2016 to co-found the start-up ecosystem and aerospace industry in Europe, during which period he held positions as a partner and mentor at the Munich industrial start-up accelerator TechFounders and take on the role of Head of Digital Transformation and Innovation at Airbus Defence and Space.
Following his second stint at SpaceX until the end of 2017, Bulent also helped disrupt the space communications landscape leading Mynaric, a free-space optical communications company, as their CEO.