Open Cosmos, building European space infrastructure, has raised £260 million in funding led by Lightrock, with participation from ETF Partners, Institut Català de Finances (ICF), Entrepreneurs First, Phoenix Court, National Security Strategic Investment Fund (NSSIF), Convex Group, Claret Capital Partners and two major international pension funds. Designing, building and operating satellite missions end to end, Open Cosmos sells secure communications, Earth observation and real-time intelligence to governments, space agencies and large energy and infrastructure companies.
Four platforms sit behind that. OpenOrbit designs, builds and operates the satellites; OpenConstellation lets governments and organisations share satellite infrastructure rather than fund their own; ConnectedCosmos securely links satellites and Earth through sovereign broadband and IoT communications; and DataCosmos turns imagery and sensor data into real-time operational intelligence. Run together, the system allows a satellite to detect an unusual increase in temperature over a forest, use onboard AI to identify it as a potential fire, and relay that intelligence straight to firefighters or aircraft in the area even where terrestrial internet is unavailable, tasking additional satellites and drawing on terrestrial IoT sensors to cross-check what is happening on the ground.
Global space investment from venture capital reached $11.3 billion in the first half of 2026, up from $10.1bn across all of 2025, while European governments increasingly treat space systems as core infrastructure and invest in sovereign communications and Earth observation capabilities to reduce reliance on non-European systems.
Five consecutive years of profitable growth sit behind the round, alongside a high mission success rate in orbit and the capacity to manufacture one satellite a day across four European factories. Customer contracts signed over the past three and a half years total more than $370 million. Within two months of securing access to Liechtenstein's Ka-band spectrum filings, the first ConnectedCosmos satellites were in orbit, and recently launched next-generation OpenConstellation satellites aim to cut the delivery of Earth observation intelligence from up to 48 hours to as little as 30 minutes.
The funding will expand satellite mass manufacturing capacity, grow ConnectedCosmos, OpenConstellation and DataCosmos, and scale engineering, manufacturing and software teams across operations in the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal and Greece, where close to 400 people are employed.
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. By bringing together satellites, secure communications and AI-powered data services, we're creating a system that transforms information from orbit into something that governments and enterprises can act on. This investment allows us to accelerate that vision, satisfying the satellite manufacturing orders that governments and large companies are placing for our reliable and high-performance satellites and delivering the sovereign services the world needs.
Lightrock is delighted to be leading Open Cosmos' funding round and supporting this European leader as it enters its next stage of growth in the space economy. The work of Open Cosmos, and the wider space infrastructure sector, underpins global energy, communications, security, and sustainability efforts. Open Cosmos' stellar mission record, manufacturing capability, and scientific expertise position it to become a global leader in this critically important sector, and we look forward to supporting the company on this journey.
The conditions for building world-leading space companies have now converged in Europe. The leadership team at Open Cosmos has demonstrated the calibre of ambition required to convert this expertise into substantial commercial results and has achieved this at remarkable pace. Open Cosmos is already an exceptional business, and we believe it has the potential to become one of Europe's defining infrastructure companies.
Rafel and the team have spent a decade turning world-class science and engineering into real industrial capability, building a profitable space company that can manufacture satellites at scale and deliver critical sovereign infrastructure. When we give ambitious founders the time and capital to build, Europe can challenge the best in the world and the proof is right here in Open Cosmos.
