Important financing operation for one of the main companies in the emerging New Space sector in Catalonia. Open Cosmos, the company that in January put Menut, the second nanosatellite promoted by the Generalitat, into orbit, has just closed a Series B financing round that has allowed it to raise 45 million euros to boost its ambitious growth plans.
The capital increase has been led by three impact investment funds: ETF Partners, Trill Impact and A&G, although other firms such as Accenture Ventures, InnoEnergy Climate Tech Fund, Claret Capital Partners, Taavet Hinrikus and Kheng Nam Lee have also participated in the operation. "The funds will be used to accelerate the company's growth and international expansion and to expand its offering to include larger satellites and advanced constellations, as well as analysis and information solutions derived from satellite data," explains the company founded by Rafael Jordà from Mallorca, which has offices in Spain, the United Kingdom and Portugal.
Jordà studied at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), but decided to start his project in the United Kingdom, where he saw that there were more facilities to undertake and innovate in the space sector. Thus, in 2015 he created Open Cosmos to design small satellites and manage space missions, with the vocation of being a leading company that would simplify and democratize access to space. Its objective is to contribute to facing key challenges of the planet such as the climate crisis, the energy transition or the sustainable use of natural resources, enabling organizations around the world to have access to the wealth of data that satellites are capable of capturing.
Last October, the company announced an investment of 10 million euros to expand its Barcelona headquarters, where it is building laboratories and a 300 square meter clean room destined to manufacture nanosatellites such as Menut, which offers images to monitor deforestation, the impact of forest fires, floods or coastal erosion.
In the coming months, Open Cosmos plans to launch the satellites Platero, Mantis, and IOD6, commissioned by the Andalusian Agency for Agricultural and Fisheries Management; by the United Kingdom and the European Space Agency (ESA); and with the collaboration of the United Kingdom, respectively. Platero will focus on monitoring biodiversity and natural disasters; Mantis will produce high-resolution images to monitor logistics, energy infrastructures, and natural resources; and IOD6 will focus on surveillance of the Atlantic coastal and maritime areas.
"Since our inception, we have considered Open Cosmos as more than just a space technology company; we are agents of change leveraging the power of satellite data to generate an impact on Earth. Our successful Series B capital increase, backed by prominent ESG and impact investors, is a testament to our commitment to sustainability and innovation," highlighted founder and CEO, Rafel Jordà.
Until now, Open Cosmos had only raised 6.5 million euros in a previous round, as the use of external financing has been minimized thanks to its focus on commercialization and organic growth. "Since the end of 2020, the company has experienced organic growth that has led it to be profitable in terms of EBITDA, while we have doubled revenues year after year," assures Open Cosmos, which believes that demonstrated financial sustainability has been key to raising new funds despite the current difficult macroeconomic environment.
The company now has a team of almost 70 people distributed across the United Kingdom, Spain ---where it operates in Catalonia, Madrid, and Andalusia--- and Portugal and its goal is to expand into Latin America, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific in the future. Additionally, Open Cosmos assures that it is evaluating opportunities that complement this geographical expansion with acquisitions that facilitate non-organic growth in both space infrastructure and geoinformation.