PARIS — Smallsat developer Open Cosmos has raised $50 million to expand the company and develop larger satellites and constellations focused on Earth observation.
The company, based in the United Kingdom with offices in Spain and Portugal, announced Sept. 10 the Series B round. The round was led by ETF Partners, Trill Impact and A&G, three funds from “impact investors” that focus on companies that provide societal or environmental benefits. Several other investors also participated in the round.
The funding will help the 70-person company grow internationally, including in Latin America, the Middle East and the Asia Pacific. It will allow it to expand its current satellite offerings, which have been cubesats, to larger spacecraft as well as constellations. The company is also developing an satellite data analytics platform called DataCosmos.
“It is important for us as a business to work with investors that believe in our mission and align with our values to use technology to solve urgent global problems and we’re delighted to find that with ETF Partners, Trill Impact and A&G,” said Rafel Jorda Siquier, chief executive and founder of Open Cosmos, in a statement. “This investment will propel us forward, allowing us to accelerate our growth, expand our capabilities and continue offering cutting-edge solutions.”
The company has launched several smallsats to date to support Earth observation, communications and navigation applications. Jorda Siquier said the company has five more satellites scheduled to launch through next March, all 6U or 12U cubesats with a range of Earth observation applications, from agriculture to disaster management.
The funding, he said, will go help the company move into microsatellites. It will also support development of OpenConstellation, what the company calls a “mutualized satellite infrastructure” where companies share capacity on their satellites with others.
“The OpenConstellation was created to enable organizations to share the data generated by satellites for improved access to information on our planet to drive sustainability and impact,” he said. “By sharing space assets, we are dramatically lowering costs and simplifying access to Earth observation data.”
Open Cosmos argues it can stand out in the crowded Earth observation sector with “cost-effective end-to-end fully managed missions” for its customers, Jorda Siquier said. “We pride ourselves on agile development, can accommodate diverse applications, and foster global partnerships.”
That argument won over investors who see benefits from the company’s approach to collecting Earth observation data. “Through their technological innovation, Open Cosmos has proven that space is a vital resource for the continued health and prosperity of our planet,” said Patrick Sheehan, managing partner of ETF Partners, in a statement. “Open Cosmos is a perfect match for our values and provides an exciting opportunity for profitable investment into a robust and growing market.”
“Open Cosmos is a leader in providing multi-sensor space data at an affordable cost and we consider it a pioneer with creating an app store-like analytics offering,” said Toba Spiegel, investment manager at Trill Impact, in the statement.
Before the Series B round, Open Cosmos had raised $7 million since its founding in 2015. The company said its revenues have doubled annually since 2020, but did not disclose specific figures. Jorda Siquier said the company has had positive earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization since 2021.
