ReOrbit lands record funding to take on Musk’s Starlink from Europe

Summary

ReOrbit, a Finnish startup focused on helping nations control their own sovereign satellites, has raised a record €45 million (about US $53 million) Series A round of funding for a European space tech company. The funding round signals that Europe’s new space market is heating up, fueled by a geopolitical environment in which countries increasingly worry about relying on foreign technology for critical infrastructure. Founded in 2019 and based in Helsinki, ReOrbit provides both the hardware and software needed for independent satellite operations. According to its CEO, Sethu Saveda Suvanam, the company offers a solution to nations that can’t build their own satellites but want an affordable alternative to Elon Musk-owned Starlink. Unlike Starlink, which also targets private users and enterprises, ReOrbit wants its clients to have full ownership and sovereignty over their satellites and communications. This means sourcing hardware from trusted sources and controlling it with ReOrbit’s software layer. This software core, which Saveda Suvanam likens to Apple’s iOS, can operate both ReOrbit’s geostationary orbit satellite SiltaSat, which stays fixed above one point on Earth, and its low earth orbit satellite that circles closer to Earth, UkkoSat. Such flexibility is particularly critical for countries that recognize the accelerating role of space technology underpinning their defense, security, and critical infrastructure. That approach has helped the company sign “a full contract worth some hundreds of millions” with one nation and “multiple MOUs” with others, Saveda Suvanam said. Saveda Suvanam insists that such contracts mean the startup didn’t need external funding, but it took the round anyway to accelerate growth. He wants ReOrbit to become a sales unicorn in the next four years. “We are targeting €1 billion in order books,” Saveda Suvanam said. Techcrunch event San Francisco | October 27-29, 2025 ReOrbit was actually aiming to raise €50 million in its Series A ro...