Lithuanian space technology company Blackswan Space has raised €2.5 million in its second funding round. The round was led by Iron Wolf Capital.
With this new investment and its earlier pre-seed funding, Blackswan Space has now raised a total of €3.2 million.
Other investors included existing backers Lemonade Stand and former NanoAvionics co-founder Linas Sargautis. The round also included NGL Ventures and Tomas Žalandauskas, who has founded several high-tech companies in Lithuania.
Founded in 2019, Blackswan Space is developing software and technology for autonomous space missions. Its main products include the Mission Design Simulator (MDS), which helps plan and simulate complex space missions, and the RPO Kit. The RPO Kit is a plug-and-play system that helps spacecraft automatically navigate, identify, and track other objects in space.
Blackswan Space has grown from a team of two technical experts to 25 employees working across Vilnius, London, and Denver.
As the number of satellites in orbit continues to increase, Blackswan’s technology is becoming more important. Its systems can help space companies inspect and service satellites, avoid collisions, and manage missions without having to develop these complex technologies themselves.
The company’s earlier pre-seed funding helped it bring the Mission Design Simulator to market and win several customers in Europe and the US, including Auria Space. With its latest funding, Blackswan plans to speed up the commercial launch of its RPO Kit and expand its operations in the United States.
Jake Geer, managing director of Orbit Fab UK, said: “This team has proven themselves to be highly capable and driven from the very beginning. That and their strong relationship with ESA is why we selected Blackswan to provide one of the most critical components – the RPO Kit – for our upcoming first European refuelling demonstration mission “ASTRAL”, flying in 2028.”
Marius Klimavičius, CEO of Blackswan, said: “We are very excited to have closed our latest investment round. I am particularly proud that all our current investors are local, coming from Lithuania and Estonia. This is no small feat for a company like Blackswan Space, considering that pockets were never that deep for space startups in our region. This achievement is testament to the work and effort that went into developing our unique technology as well as growing the business to stack up and succeed even against much bigger players.”
The company has been carrying out extensive testing to make sure its simulation and vision-based navigation (VBN) technologies work effectively. These technologies are used in its Mission Design Simulator and RPO Kit.
