Open Cosmos, a European satellite manufacturer, said Monday it has raised €300 million, or about $346 million, as investor appetite for Europe’s space startups continues to grow alongside the commercial space market opened up by SpaceX.
The deal is one of several large financings in Europe’s space sector in recent weeks. Earlier, European reusable rocket startup The Exploration Company completed a $450 million raise.
According to PitchBook, space technology startups globally have brought in more than $16.5 billion so far this year. At the current pace, full-year funding could reach nearly double last year’s level, while funding growth among European space startups has been even faster.
Founded in 2014, Open Cosmos has now raised more than $390 million in total and is valued at about $2 billion. The company said it will use the fresh capital to expand its satellite manufacturing capacity and accelerate the buildout of its satellite data services business.
Last year, Open Cosmos secured about $175 million in contracts from governments and companies. Those contracts were mainly tied to Earth observation data for disasters including floods and wildfires. The company also plans to use AI to process data on satellites, with the goal of cutting information delivery times from hours to minutes.
As demand rises for satellite communications and space-based data processing, investors are increasingly treating space as the next layer of high-speed connectivity and data infrastructure. Open Cosmos is also moving into orbital connectivity, putting it into more direct competition with SpaceX.
Launch capacity remains a core bottleneck for the industry, however. Satellite companies still rely heavily on commercial rocket providers such as SpaceX and Blue Origin, as well as government space agencies.