Participated · Seed · Sep 2022

Founded in 2020, Leanspace has built a modular software platform covering satellite monitoring & control, mission planning, ground-segment orchestration and hardware testing. The system is already flight-proven and used by more than 20 commercial operators, including Quantum Space, Look Up and Clearspace. In 2024 the company began targeting enterprise and institutional customers and has since signed seven contracts with organizations such as Airbus Defence & Space, Hispasat and the European Space Agency. Leanspace now serves six market segments spanning small satellites, constellations, in-orbit service vehicles, launchers & spaceports, large satellites and ground-station networks. The company positions its open, customizable platform as the backbone for secure, agile and cost-efficient “software-defined” satellite operations. With fresh backing from strategic aerospace and IT partners, Leanspace plans to expand in Europe and North America, offer turnkey mission-operations systems and build an ecosystem of satellite manufacturers, cloud providers and space-services firms around its technology.

Participated · Seed · Jun 2022

OKAPI:Orbits builds AI-based space situational awareness (SSA) and space traffic management (STM) platforms that cover the full mission lifecycle from mission planning and pre-launch simulation to collision avoidance, compliance, and end-of-life coordination. The company offers three integrated platforms including a mission-analysis “digital twin” that can forecast orbital environments up to years ahead and an operational collision-avoidance tool that provides 10 days’ lead time with 99% reliability. Its software has been validated by the European Space Agency and is used by customers including a Swiss satellite constellation, ESA, SpaceX and Amazon. OKAPI:Orbits spun out of the Technical University of Braunschweig and was founded in 2018; the team has grown from four founders to about 35 people based near Berlin. Because global STM regulation is still evolving, the company is also working with policymakers to promote interoperability and industry standards. Financially, the company has a history of three years bootstrapped growth, a small angel round early on, and recent institutional backing to support product and geographic scaling. OKAPI: Orbits is a German spacetech spinoff from TU Braunschweig that pools radar, telescope, in-orbit sensor, and laser ranging data to build a highly accurate picture of what is orbiting Earth and when. Its platform delivers an up-to-date map of objects and actions in space to help operators plan maneuvers and avoid collisions. The service is already employed by over 50 spacecraft in orbit and has 150+ registered users across Europe, the United States, and Asia‑Pacific. The company says integrations take less than 10 minutes and that operators can optimize missions without interfering with others. OKAPI: Orbits raised €5.5 million in a seed round and will use the investment to expand its product portfolio and drive brand awareness and userbase growth. The startup positions its tool as a way to maximize profits while securing zero impact on the space environment as orbital congestion grows.