Open Cosmos
Satellite manufacturer based at Harwell Campus, Didcot.
On 14 September 2026, Open Cosmos closed a €300 million Series C from eight institutions with no American investor, pushing its valuation above $1 billion and keeping the dual-use satellite maker clear of US export controls.
Last refreshed: 22 September 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Timeline for Open Cosmos
Raised EUR300 million from a European-led syndicate
UK Startups and Innovation: Open Cosmos raises €300m, no US nameMentioned in: Claret closes €575m debt fund
UK Startups and InnovationBackground
Open Cosmos designs, builds and operates satellite missions end-to-end from Harwell Campus in Didcot, Oxfordshire. Rafel Jorda Siquier founded the company in July 2015 as Open Cosmos Ltd (Companies House number 09704443), setting out to cut the cost of getting to space.
The business developed through the European Space Agency's Business Incubation Centre at Harwell from 2016, building a track record in small-satellite missions for government and commercial customers ahead of its later funding rounds.
Open Cosmos sits among a small group of European space companies to have reached its current scale on European capital alone, a positioning that has become more marketable as dual-use technology draws scrutiny of foreign ownership.
Open Cosmos closes record non-US round
Open Cosmos builds and operates satellite missions end-to-end from Harwell Campus, and its 14 September round drew eight investors, including the UK's National Security Strategic Investment Fund, without a single American name on the cap table . Several trade outlets said the deal lifted the company's valuation past $1 billion, a marker for European deep-tech reaching scale without US capital.
Founded in 2015 by Rafel Jorda Siquier, the company grew through the European Space Agency's Harwell incubator before a 2017 Series A and a $50 million Series B in September 2023. The new capital funds satellite mass production and space-based connectivity, doubling down on a strategy of keeping the business, and its dual-use customers, outside US jurisdiction.
