Finnish satellite-maker ReOrbit has secured a record €45 million Series A, a milestone for Europe’s space-tech scene and a clear statement of intent: build sovereign, software-driven satellite networks that can offer governments an alternative to Elon Musk’s Starlink without ceding control to a foreign operator.
The Helsinki-based company, founded in 2019, develops both the spacecraft and the operating software that lets nations own, manage, and secure their constellations end to end. The round was arranged with Springvest and backed by Nordic institutional investors including Varma, Elo, Icebreaker.vc, Expansion VC, 10x Founders, and Inventure.
Why Sovereign Space Is Suddenly Hot
Geopolitics has made satellite autonomy a priority. Recent disruptions to undersea cables, intensifying cyber threats, and the rising militarization of orbit have pushed capitals to rethink reliance on foreign operators for critical connectivity and imaging. Europe’s own secure connectivity push—anchored by programs such as IRIS² and the EU’s Secure Connectivity initiative—underscores the shift from best-effort commercial services to state-controlled infrastructure.
Analysts at Euroconsult have highlighted the acceleration of government demand for resilient satcom and multi-orbit architectures this decade, with sovereign control and supply-chain transparency now board-level requirements rather than nice-to-haves.
Not Starlink For Everyone—Starlink For States
Starlink operates a massive low-Earth orbit (LEO) network serving millions of consumer and enterprise users. ReOrbit is going after a different buyer: nations that want their own secure satellites, keys, and ground segment, without starting from scratch. The pitch is “your satellites, your rules,” delivered as a turnkey system with trusted European hardware and a software layer that centralizes control.
ReOrbit’s software-centric approach is designed to run across orbits. Its operating stack—described internally as akin to a satellite “iOS”—can command both a geostationary craft (SiltaSat) and a LEO platform (UkkoSat), enabling hybrid networks that blend high-throughput links with low-latency coverage. For defense, border security, and disaster response, that flexibility is the point.
Big Contract, Bigger Ambitions
The company says it has signed a full contract worth “hundreds of millions” with one nation and holds multiple memorandums of understanding with others. Management’s goal is aggressive: become a “sales unicorn,” targeting €1 billion in order bookings within four years by combining platform software licenses with spacecraft, payload integration, and ground services.
While the business could have grown from cash flow, executives opted to raise now to accelerate delivery and lock in supply at a time when launch slots, radios, and secure components are in high demand across the industry.
Nordic Edge: Capital, Talent, Regulation
Finland has quietly become a European space hub, thanks to pragmatic regulation and a fast-maturing supplier base. The country’s experience nurturing ICEYE—a global leader in synthetic aperture radar satellites—proved that complex space hardware can be built and exported from the Nordics. ReOrbit’s leadership, with deep roots in Sweden’s space sector, chose Helsinki for precisely that environment.
The financing itself is characteristically Nordic: a blend of pension funds, venture investors, and a public offering platform (Springvest) that brings qualified investors into late-early rounds, creating a wider domestic constituency for strategic tech.
Competing In A Crowded Orbit
On capability, ReOrbit’s closest analogs are not pure consumer networks but players like Astranis, which builds smaller GEO satellites for targeted regional capacity. The competitive field also includes Eutelsat OneWeb in LEO and Europe’s emerging IRIS² framework. Against Starlink, the differentiator isn’t speed; it’s ownership and control. For ministries of defense and national telecom operators, that can outweigh raw throughput.
Starlink remains the scale benchmark—with thousands of satellites deployed—but its vertically integrated, service-provider model is precisely what some governments want to avoid. ReOrbit is betting that a sovereign, multi-vendor model wins where neutrality and trust are paramount.
What The New Capital Buys
ReOrbit plans to expand manufacturing in Finland, harden its software stack for classified and mission-critical use, and localize more of its supply chain inside Europe. The company is also preparing an in-orbit demonstration with the European Space Agency, a key technical validation for its multi-orbit control software and modular bus.
Expect investments across radios, encryption, interference mitigation, and ground automation—areas where European suppliers can offer ITAR-light alternatives and tighter security assurances.
Metrics To Watch
The next year will test whether ReOrbit can convert MOUs into binding multi-year programs and navigate spectrum filings, export controls, and launch cadence. Technical milestones include demonstrating low-latency handover between LEO and GEO, anti-jam performance, and seamless key management across sovereign ground stations.
If it executes, ReOrbit won’t replace Starlink; it will give governments a credible European path to similar resilience—on their own terms. In a world where connectivity is infrastructure and infrastructure is geopolitics, that may be the more durable business.