EIB invests €10M in this Bulgarian space scaleup; third space company in its venture debt portfolio

Bulgaria-based EnduroSat, a company that designs and engineers spacecraft for business applications and space exploration missions, announced that it has raised venture debt funding of €10M from the European Investment Bank (EIB), the long-term lending institution of the European Union.

The funds were made available by the European Guarantee Fund (EGF), which was set up by the EIB to support EU businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is the first venture-debt operation in Bulgaria under the EGF.

With the direct financing of EnduroSat, the EIB adds a third new space company to its venture-debt portfolio after financing Spire Global and D-Orbit in 2020.

Spacecraft for business applications and space exploration missions

Founded in 2015 by Raycho Raychev and Stanimir Gantchev, EnduroSat provides software-defined NanoSats and space services to business, exploration, and science teams. The company’s focus is on the development of next generation exploration programmes.

EnduroSat’s new Shared Satellite Service offers an easy way to fly and operate payload in orbit. It covers all aspects of the process — from payload integration and launch all the way to data command and control via a cloud-based user interface.

This new concept democratises access to space data. It allows customers to lease the company’s satellites to deploy sensors and instruments instead of developing their own satellite fleets. This access to space data will also have a positive impact on the environment with fewer small satellite launches required, leading to reduced space debris.

With an annual growth of more than 250 per cent, EnduroSat claims to be one of the fastest-growing space companies in Europe. The company is also a member of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) and has over 80+ employees serving more than 110 clients globally. 

Funds for growth and job creation

With the raised capital, EnduroSat looks to create highly skilled jobs in the European Union’s space sector, and have positive environmental benefits in orbit – indirectly favouring the reduction of space debris.

The company currently has over 25 open positions

The funds from EIB will also help the company to develop its NanoSatellites and space services, as well as support the expansion of EnduroSat’s disruptive Shared Satellite Service.

Speaking on the development, Raycho Raychev says, “The financing will streamline our mission of empowering academia, businesses, and science teams across the globe to test and validate their technology in space. EnduroSat has been working hard to develop software-defined NanoSats, offering simple in-orbit operations and data handling. Our Shared Satellite Service radically simplifies the process of getting your payload to space in a significantly shorter time.”

Brief about EGF

The European Guarantee Fund (EGF) was set up by the EIB Group with contributions from Bulgaria and other EU Member states to provide for companies suffering from the Covid-19 crisis.

Using nearly €25B in guarantees, the EGF allows the EIB and the European Investment Fund (EIF) to quickly make loans, guarantees, asset-backed securities, equity and other financial instruments available to mostly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). 

The EGF is part of the European Union’s recovery package aiming to provide a total of €540B to boost those parts of the EU economy that have been hit the worst by the pandemic.