The best satellite space startups
21 satellites companies in the directory, ranked by disclosed funding ($7.9B 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 9 October 2026 · 24 milestones in the last 90 days · Follow by RSS
State of the sector
As of 9 October 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. A demonstration flight is 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.
OneWeb: Airbus completes the first 32 renewal OneWeb satellites, which ship for a SpaceX launch
Aetherflux: Reason-1, its first satellite, launches on Transporter-18 to test beaming power from orbit to Earth
Alen Space: Five 6U satellites it built for Sateliot’s Draconis mission launch on SpaceX Transporter-18
Dhruva Space: LEAP-2, its second commercial mission, launches on SpaceX's Transporter-18 carrying in-orbit demonstrations for Sodern and Satleo Labs
Planet: Launches its second Tanager satellite and the first prototype satellite for Google's Project Suncatcher on SpaceX's Transporter-18
Astranis Space Technologies Corp: Receives a $468M credit facility from the Export-Import Bank of the United States to expand satellite production
Synspective: Signs a 20-launch Electron deal with Rocket Lab, Rocket Lab's largest commercial Electron contract
True Anomaly: Is selected to fly a Jackal on GHOST-R, the GEO reconnaissance pathfinder for the Space Force RG-XX programAlen Space: Signs on to three ESA IRIS² Low-LEO projects (ARGUS, Poseidon and LYRA) at the consolidation-phase kick-off
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 OmnispaceShow 40 earlier milestones
iQPS: Signs a rideshare launch contract with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to fly three QPS-SAR satellites on an H3 rocket
Kepler Communications: Books launch capacity for ten Tranche-2 relay satellites on Portal’s Motus Via Sol Falcon 9 mission, targeted for mid-2028
Open Cosmos: Closes a €300M funding round led by Lightrock, ETF Partners and Entrepreneurs FirstAstranis Space Technologies Corp: Agrees with stc group to deploy a dedicated satellite for Saudi Arabia, part of Block 3 launching in 2027
NewOrbit Space: Books a launch for NEO-1 in the third quarter of 2028 through the broker RIDE!, with Genesia as its first announced payload customerOneWeb: Eutelsat signs an authorisation to proceed with Airbus for 229 more OneWeb satellites, taking new satellites on order to 669OneWeb: Eutelsat books two dedicated Ariane 64 launches for OneWeb satellites in 2027 and 2028Open Cosmos: Named an approved provider of satellite connectivity under the UK government's £8bn sovereign communications frameworkNewOrbit Space: Builds six engineering models of the latest AURA and starts qualification testing, due to finish in the first quarter of 2027
Loft Orbital: Announces with UAE investor Marlan Space a $1B program to grow a 10-satellite AI demonstration into a 50-satellite constellationKepler Communications: Signs agreements with NorthStar to carry its space-domain-awareness data over Kepler’s optical relay networkKepler Communications: Declares its optical data relay network in commercial service after launching 33 satellites; it runs 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; it has about $1B of signed contractsDhruva Space: The Antariksh Venture Capital Fund, anchored by IN-SPACe, makes its first investment: ₹60 crore in DhruvaAstranis Space Technologies Corp: A power system anomaly found before launch on one Block 3 satellite affects all five satellites sharing its Falcon 9 rideAlen Space: CyberCUBE, an ESA cybersecurity mission on a 3U CubeSat it built, launches on a Falcon 9
Axelspace: All seven next-generation GRUS-3 satellites reach orbit on Transporter-17 and make contactOpen Cosmos: Launches the first two OpenConstellation 1.0 Earth observation satellitesTrue Anomaly: JACKAL-0004 completes the first VICTUS HAZE sortie, rendezvousing with a responsively launched spacecraft within hours of its arrivalAlen Space: Designs and builds the AIS payloads for the Spanish component of the Atlantic Constellation, which passes its critical design reviewiQPS: An Electron launch carrying its Mikura-I satellite aborts at ignition; the satellite flies that AugustNewOrbit Space: Wins a €400,000 ESA GSTP contract to bring AURA to launch readinessDhruva Space: Receives a ₹105 crore grant from India's RDI fund to develop Project Garud, a 500 kg satellite platformAetherflux: Raises a $275M Series B led by Index Ventures and renames itself Cowboy Space
Skylo: Partners with Space42 to deliver standards-based direct-to-device service over the Thuraya-4 geostationary satelliteAstranis Space Technologies Corp: Raises a $300M Series E co-led by Snowpoint Ventures and Franklin Templeton, plus up to $155M in debtTrue Anomaly: Raises a $650M Series D, taking total capital past $1BK2 Space: Gravitas, its first free-flying satellite, launches on Transporter-16: about two tonnes, a 40 m solar array span and 20 kW of powerAlen Space: Celeste IOD-1, ESA’s LEO navigation demonstrator built with GMV, launches from New ZealandAetherflux: Reported to be shifting from beaming solar power to Earth toward orbital data centres, and raising a Series B at a $2B valuationStarcloud: Raises a $170M Series ADhruva Space: Signs the national Earth observation constellation agreement with IN-SPACe as one of four consortium members, led by PixxelLoft Orbital: Is named prime contractor for DESIR, France’s first space-based radar imaging demonstration, by CNES and the DGADhruva 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 tenderNewOrbit Space: Runs its whole propulsion chain together for 200 hours, 150 of them on air and 50 on xenon
Lux Aeterna: Secures two US government partnership agreements for its reusable heat-shield satellite busStarcloud: Starcloud-1 reaches orbit carrying an Nvidia H100, which the company says is the only data-centre GPU operating in spaceNew in satellites
All 21 satellite companies
Ranked by disclosed funding.
OneWeb AcquiredHigh speed internet satellite constellation
Astranis Space Technologies Corp Small dedicated GEO satellites
True Anomaly Spacecraft for space security
K2 Space Mega-class satellite buses
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
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
NewOrbit Space Satellites for very low Earth orbit
Open Cosmos Space mission services
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 21 satellites companies, 16 of them active, with $7.9B in disclosed funding between them.
What is the latest news from satellites startups?
The most recent milestone on record is from OneWeb, dated 2 October 2026: "Airbus completes the first 32 renewal OneWeb satellites, which ship for a SpaceX launch."
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