European satellite manufacturer Open Cosmos raised 300 million euro (approximately $346 million) in a funding round led by European investors Lightrock, ETF Partners, Institut Català de Finances (ICF), Entrepreneurs First and two major international pension funds, the company announced Monday.
Open Cosmos said it would use the funding, backed by U.K. government investors, to scale up and expand its satellite mass manufacturing capabilities and invest in the development of its ConnectedCosmos-, OpenConstellation- and DataCosmos-branded intelligence and connectivity services for government customers.
“The new funding will accelerate the deployment of these capabilities by expanding ConnectedCosmos, growing OpenConstellation and DataCosmos, and scaling the engineering, manufacturing and software teams across Open Cosmos’ operations in the U.K., Spain, Portugal and Greece, where it employs close to 400 people,” the company said in a September 14 statement.
Open Cosmos, which boasts the capability to build one satellite a day from its current four factories across Europe, also said that it is working to reduce the delivery time of its Earth Observation (EO) intelligence from as long as 48 hours down to as fast as 30 minutes, while enabling onboard AI processing and inter-satellite communications. The company currently has access to Ka-band spectrum, with more than $370 million in customer contracts accumulated since 2022.
“Space infrastructure is becoming as critical as energy, digital networks and transport. Governments and enterprises increasingly require secure communications and operational data delivered through resilient systems. But infrastructure alone isn’t enough. The real value comes from the intelligence that relays what’s happening on Earth in real time and the global connectivity to deliver it,” Open Cosmos Founder and CEO Rafel Jorda Siquier said in the announcement.
U.K. Space Minister Baroness Lloyd added, “This landmark investment represents a major vote of confidence in Open Cosmos and Britain’s growing space sector. Our new UK Space Strategy recognizes the increasing importance of satellite communications in all our lives, from connectivity to defending our country, and companies like Open Cosmos are vital for advancing that infrastructure. Following previous UK government support, it is great to see the company continuing to grow, with investment that will help unlock high-skilled jobs and growth that will benefit people across the U.K.”
