Open Cosmos Raises €300M for European Space

Open Cosmos has raised €300 million to expand its satellite manufacturing and operations platform as Europe pushes to build more sovereign space infrastructure.

What happened

The UK-based company designs, manufactures and operates low-Earth-orbit satellites and provides communications and Earth-observation services to governments and commercial customers. The round was led by Lightrock, with participation from investors including ETF Partners and the UK's National Security Strategic Investment Fund.

Open Cosmos already operates across several European markets and has built a growing portfolio of public-sector and commercial contracts.

Why it matters

Europe still relies heavily on US-controlled space infrastructure for communications, imagery and launch services. Open Cosmos is one of a relatively small group of European companies trying to build a vertically integrated alternative at meaningful scale.

The size of the financing gives it more capacity to manufacture satellites, expand constellations and compete for larger government programmes.

The bigger picture

Space is increasingly being treated as strategic infrastructure rather than a niche technology market. Governments want domestic access to communications, navigation and Earth-observation capacity, while venture-backed companies are becoming core suppliers to that effort. Open Cosmos is moving into the category of European scaleups that could anchor that sovereign-space push.