The new French space orbital services company Infinite Orbits has raised a €12 million funding round led by Newfund Capital, together with EIC Fund, IRDI Capital Investissement and Space Founders France. The main goal of this financing is to enable Infinite Orbits to accelerate the development of its flagship project “Endurance”, a satellite to extend the life of space assets.
Endurance will enable satellite operators to optimize their constellation management strategies while increasing return on investment by extending the lifespan of their satellites. Endurance is scheduled to demonstrate Europe’s first life extension mission in 2026.
“We have already taken great steps in the past year: we are the world’s first startup with commercial nanosatellites in geostationary orbit and we have signed an important partnership with satellite operator Intelsat to develop services for their constellation. With four major customers including Azercosmos, Intelsat, CNES and Hispasat, we have finished our second year of revenue and are on track to exceed €60 million in 2027,” explained Adel Hadoud, CEO of Infinite Orbits. “As a commercially-driven company, the next logical step for us is to offer new reliable and competitive services such as Life Extension to all geostationary orbit operators.”
Founded in 2017, Infinite Orbits’ Endurance will be operated by Infinite Orbit’s Rendezvous and Proximity Operations (RPO) technology, an autonomous vision-based navigation technology that allows space-based assets to dock in close proximity to each other. RPO technology paves the way for sustainable use of space resources and enables a durable space environment. The technology is designed to be replicable for advanced on-orbit servicing, such as precision inspection, refueling, and in-space manufacturing, as well as many other applications yet to be realized given the tremendous growth in satellites launched in recent years.
Infinite Orbits’ technology verification and validation roadmap was launched in 2019 with key technology partnerships including ESA and CNES, and funding from the European Innovation Council (EIC), bpifrance and La Région Occitanie. This roadmap will see Infinite Orbits’ Orbit Guard™ #1 launched into GEO orbit on 1 May 2023, carrying the first version of Infinite Orbits’ technology.
“We are thrilled to partner with a company like Infinite Orbits, which perfectly embodies our commitment to backing deep tech ventures with the potential to become world leaders,” said Salim Hassad, Investment Director at New Fund. “Infinite Orbits stands out with its outstanding founding team, solid technology foundation and promising commercial trajectory. We are confident that Infinite Orbits will not only excel in the orbital servicing sector, but will also emerge as an international champion in the future.”
