The best satellite space startups
20 satellites companies in the directory, ranked by disclosed funding ($7.5B raised between them), spanning 7 countries.
The companies that build and operate the spacecraft themselves, as distinct from the imagery or connectivity sold from them. Satellite buses have gone from bespoke engineering projects to product lines: Apex builds them on assembly lines, K2 Space makes them mega-class for the heavy-lift era, and Loft Orbital flies other people's payloads on hardware it owns. Operators whose product is really the constellation, like OneWeb and Planet, appear here as well as in the sector they sell into.
Updated 27 September 2026 · 5 milestones in the last 90 days · Follow by RSS
State of the sector
As of 27 September 2026
This is where the spacecraft themselves get built. Apex makes satellite buses on assembly lines, and K2 Space builds very large buses for the era of heavy-lift rockets. Loft Orbital and Open Cosmos fly customers' payloads on buses they provide. MinoSpace builds satellites to order for Chinese provinces and agencies.
Orbital data centres now have hardware in space. Starcloud put an Nvidia H100 in orbit in November 2025. Aetherflux, founded to beam solar power to Earth, was reported in March 2026 to be moving toward orbital data centres and now operates as Cowboy Space. OrbitsEdge sells computing on its SatFrame satellites.
Lux Aeterna is building Delphi, a satellite designed to land and fly again, with a demonstration flight targeted for 2027. In September 2026 Apex agreed to build a US factory for direct-to-device satellites for Elveo Mobile, the operator formed when Lynk Global and Omnispace merged.
Latest milestones
Every dated event from the companies below, newest first, each with its source.
Apex: Agrees to set up a US factory to build direct-to-device satellites for Elveo Mobile, the operator formed by the merger of Lynk Global and Omnispace
Kepler Communications: Declares its optical data relay network in commercial service, with 33 satellites launched and more than ten optical ground stations
Starcloud: Adds $250M to its Series A at a $2.3B valuation, led by Manhattan West with $25M from Nvidia
K2 Space: Raises a $500M Series D at a $6.8B valuation, led by Kleiner Perkins and ICONIQ, with about $1B of signed contracts
Dhruva Space: The Antariksh Venture Capital Fund, anchored by IN-SPACe, makes its first investment: ₹60 crore in Dhruva
iQPS: An Electron launch carrying its Mikura-I satellite aborts at ignition; the satellite flies that AugustDhruva Space: Receives a ₹105 crore grant from India's RDI fund to develop Project Garud, a 500 kg satellite platformK2 Space: Gravitas, its first free-flying satellite, launches on Transporter-16: about two tonnes, a 40 m solar array span and 20 kW of power
Aetherflux: Reported to be shifting from beaming solar power to Earth toward orbital data centres, and raising a Series B at a $2B valuationShow 40 earlier milestones
Starcloud: Raises a $170M Series ADhruva Space: Signs the national Earth observation constellation agreement with IN-SPACe as one of four consortium members, led by PixxelDhruva Space: Loses five deployers and the satellites inside them, including its own Thybolt-3, when PSLV-C62 fails in flightiQPS: Wins a share of Japan’s Ministry of Defense satellite constellation tenderStarcloud: Starcloud-1 reaches orbit carrying an Nvidia H100, which the company says is the only data-centre GPU operating in space
Open Cosmos: Completes the landmark MANTIS imaging missionDhruva Space: LEAP-1, its first commercial mission, launches on a SpaceX Falcon 9 with payloads for Australia's Akula Tech
Axelspace: Axelspace Holdings lists on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth Market under code 402A
Skylo: Pixel Watch 4 becomes the first smartwatch with standards-based two-way satellite messaging
Lux Aeterna: Emerges from stealth with Delphi, a fully reusable satellite targeting a 2027 demo flight
OrbitsEdge: Signs Syntilay and Copernic Space to put AI agents on its Edge1 module for a first orbital missionApex: Aries SN1 marks a full year of on-orbit operationSkylo: Raises an oversubscribed $30M led by NGP Capital to scale direct-to-device service worldwideK2 Space: Heritage, the company’s first demonstration satellite, reaches low Earth orbit
Astranis Space Technologies Corp: Four MicroGEO satellites launch together on a dedicated Falcon 9
Synspective: Lists on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth Market, raising about ¥10.2B, with a dedicated Electron flight the same weekiQPS: QPS-SAR-8 reaches orbit on Transporter-11 and makes contact two hours after liftoffSkylo: Verizon adopts Skylo for satellite emergency messaging on NTN-capable Android phonesSkylo: Google’s Pixel 9 ships Satellite SOS over Skylo, its first Tier-1 smartphone integrationDhruva Space: IN-SPACe authorises it to sell ground station servicesDhruva Space: Closes a ₹123 crore (about $15M) Series A, with Indian Angel Network Alpha Fund and Blue Ashva Capital among the investorsAstranis Space Technologies Corp: Unveils Omega, a next-generation MicroGEO with five times the throughput
True Anomaly: Awarded a $30M Space Force contract for Victus Haze, a tactically responsive space demonstrationApex: Aries SN1, the first production unit of its satellite bus, reaches orbit a year after clean-sheet designTrue Anomaly: First two Jackal autonomous orbital vehicles launch and deploy on Transporter-10Dhruva Space: LEAP-TD, a version of its P-30 platform on ISRO's POEM-3, completes its experiments in orbitiQPS: Releases first-light images from QPS-SAR-5 after a month of on-orbit calibrationSkylo: Opens commercial direct-to-device service across the US and Canada on the 3GPP NTN standardiQPS: Lists on the Tokyo Stock Exchange Growth Market under code 5595Open Cosmos: MANTIS and PLATERO reach orbit on Transporter-9, joining the shared OpenConstellation
OneWeb: Merger with Eutelsat completes, forming Eutelsat Group with OneWeb as its LEO armAstranis Space Technologies Corp: A solar array drive failure on Arcturus derails the Alaska broadband service; a spare satellite is promised
Alen Space: GMV acquires a majority stake; the company keeps its brand and managementAstranis Space Technologies Corp: Arcturus, the first MicroGEO satellite, reaches geostationary orbit and beams first signals to AlaskaK2 Space: Comes out of stealth with the Mega Class bus, promising 20 kW satellites at a fraction of legacy costOneWeb: The final 36 satellites complete the 648-strong first-generation constellationDhruva Space: Thybolt-1 and Thybolt-2, its first satellites, reach orbit on PSLV-C54New in satellites
All 20 satellite companies
Ranked by disclosed funding.
OneWeb AcquiredHigh speed internet satellite constellation
True Anomaly Spacecraft for space security
K2 Space Mega-class satellite buses
Astranis Space Technologies Corp Small dedicated GEO satellites
Apex Satellite buses off assembly lines
Starcloud Data centres in orbit
Loft Orbital Turnkey satellite deployment
Kepler Communications High-bandwidth data and IoT
Planet GraduatedImaging services
Open Cosmos Space mission services
Lux Aeterna Delphi, the reusable satellite
Aetherflux Solar-powered GPU satellites, now Cowboy Space
Alen Space Small satellite turnkey solutions
Axelspace GraduatedOptical microsatellites
Dhruva Space Satellite buses, deployers and ground stations
iQPS GraduatedAll-weather SAR imagery
MinoSpaceSatellites built to order, 10 kg to a ton
OrbitsEdge Computing and analytics in space
Skylo Satellite IoT connectivity
Synspective GraduatedThe StriX SAR constellation
How many satellites space startups are there in 2026?
Space Bandits tracks 20 satellites companies, 15 of them active, with $7.5B in disclosed funding between them.
What is the latest news from satellites startups?
The most recent milestone on record is from Apex, dated 14 September 2026: "Agrees to set up a US factory to build direct-to-device satellites for Elveo Mobile, the operator formed by the merger of Lynk Global and Omnispace."
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