D-Orbit closes 100 million increase and allies with Japan's Marubeni

D-Orbit closes its 100 million financing round, announced in recent months, by welcoming the JapaneseMarubeni, which led the deal, as a new major partner, and now aims to extend its satellite distribution and strengthen its services, such as space debris clean-up.

The start-up, according to Reuters' reconstruction, did not disclose its valuation after this new fundraising, but had been valued at more than $1.28 billion in January 2022 in a merger deal that later failed.

The family office Avantgarde and existing investors such as Seraphim Space Investment Trust, United Ventures, Indaco Venture Partners, Primo Ventures, Cdp Venture Capital, and Neva sgr also participated in the round. D-Orbit expects support from additional investors in the first half of this year.

The funding follows triple-digit annual revenue growth since 2021, with more than €60m generated from government and space agency contracts. D-Orbit, which has customers including the European Space Agency, Planet Labs and the University of Southern California, flies its Ion satellite launcher into different orbits to deliver customers' satellites to their precise destinations. In addition, as mentioned, over the years it has added services such as space debris disposal, satellite refuelling and space cloud computing to its core business.

This Series C financing round will enable D-Orbit to strengthen its activities in Italy and accelerate the progress of its roadmap on a global scale, with a focus on on-orbit services, space cloud computing and orbital transportation. Through this strategic partnership, D-Orbit anticipates Marubeni's active support of the company's growth and expansion. In addition, D-Orbit and Marubeni will extend Marubeni's agency mandate beyond the initial scope limited to Japan and Southeast Asia, significantly amplifying D-Orbit's presence and service provision to satellite operators on a global scale.