Loft Orbital, a company focused on space infrastructure, has successfully secured $170 million in Series C funding, with Tikehau Capital and Axial Partners as the co-leads. Remarkably, this funding round surpasses the total $160 million the firm has garnered since its establishment in 2017, marking a significant milestone in its financial journey. Learn more about the Series C financing.
Loft Orbital has chosen not to disclose its current valuation. However, PitchBook indicates that during its last funding lift in 2021 — which involved a $130 million Series B round — it held a valuation of $550 million.
In addition to Tikehau Capital and Axial Partners, investors such as Bpifrance, Foundation Capital, Temasek, and Uncork Capital also contributed, raising Loft’s total funding to $330 million.
While Loft has not disclosed specific revenue figures, co-founder and COO Alex Greenberg informed TechCrunch that the company has achieved a 100% growth in revenue year over year for two consecutive years.
“We have recorded over $500 million in bookings with only $160 million of capital raised prior to this Series C. In a sector known for its substantial capital needs, we take pride in our capital efficiency,” he stated. “Currently, our focus is firmly on profitability and ensuring the sustainability of our business.”
To date, Loft Orbital has launched over 30 satellites, serving clients such as NASA, Microsoft, Anduril, and BAE Systems. Altogether, the company claims to have successfully completed over 25 client missions across the five satellites it has launched so far.
Founded in January 2017, Loft Orbital’s stated mission is to “simplify the process for organizations to deploy and manage missions in space.” Essentially, the firm aims to take on the responsibility of deploying and operating customer missions as a service.
The company sources standardized satellites from manufacturers like Airbus and LeoStella and customizes them with client payloads, alleviating the burden of procuring, operating, and managing their own hardware and ground network infrastructure.
“Unlike other players in the field, we don’t design satellites for specific projects — we utilize existing components of our satellite framework,” Greenberg explained. “Think of it as building with Lego blocks.”
Loft also provides “virtual missions,” enabling clients to deploy their software applications onto Loft satellites. This allows them to utilize onboard sensors and computing nodes for real-time data analysis and a multitude of applications.
Recently, Loft has been quite active. Last August, it announced a joint venture with Marlan Space, based in Abu Dhabi, which raised over $100 million from a holding company linked to an Emirati royal family, aiming to enhance local satellite manufacturing capabilities.
Additionally, Loft has successfully launched YAM-6, a satellite focused on AI applications in space.
Greenberg noted that Loft intends to use the newly acquired capital in two primary areas: scaling its satellite launches from a few annually to over ten, and expanding its virtual missions along with its AI sector, enabling clients to establish AI systems within their own cloud environments (such as for wildfire detection) and deploying them onto Loft satellites. He aims to cultivate a network of AI application partners as well.
Compiled by Techarena.au.
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