Loft Orbital Achieves Unicorn Status with €170M Funding to Expand Satellite Constellations

January 14, 2025
Loft Orbital Achieves Unicorn Status with €170M Funding to Expand Satellite Constellations
  • Loft Orbital, a Franco-American space tech company, has successfully raised €170 million in a Series C funding round, aimed at accelerating the deployment of its satellite constellations.

  • This funding round values Loft at over $1 billion, marking its achievement of unicorn status, although the company has not officially confirmed this valuation.

  • With this latest funding, Loft's total capital raised exceeds €300 million, following a €140 million Series B round in 2021 led by BlackRock.

  • The Series C round was led by Tikehau Capital and Axial Partners, with participation from Temasek, Supernova Invest, Bpifrance, and several US investors.

  • Loft has already launched five satellites and currently has 30 satellites in production, including a constellation for Earth observation and another for the U.S. Department of Defense.

  • The company provides 'space infrastructure' by owning and operating satellites that clients can utilize for their missions, similar to cloud computing models on Earth.

  • Loft serves high-profile clients, including NASA, the US Space Force, and Microsoft, and has created a subsidiary called Loft Federal for classified US defense programs.

  • Since its inception in 2017, Loft has executed 25 missions and signed €500 million in commercial contracts, projecting €100 million in annual recurring revenues from these contracts.

  • The company aims to increase its launch rate from one satellite per year to ten, as stated by Emmanuelle Méric, the company's Europe director.

  • Loft has announced a joint venture in the United Arab Emirates to build satellites for the Middle East market and develop AI solutions for the space sector.

  • With backing from Temasek, Loft plans to expand its operations to Singapore, further establishing itself as an international entity.

  • Headquartered in Toulouse, France, and San Francisco, Loft employs nearly 100 staff from 20 different nationalities, contributing to a global workforce of 250.

Summary based on 2 sources


Get a daily email with more Startups stories

More Stories