Vilnius, Lithuania – Blackswan Space, a young spacetech company based in Vilnius, has secured €760,000 in a pre-seed funding round. This funding will fuel their mission to pioneer autonomous space technologies.
Led by ScaleWolf, a venture capital firm specializing in defense technology, the round also saw participation from prominent figures in the industry including Linas Sargautis (co-founder of NanoAvionics), Lemonade Stand, Baltic Sandbox Ventures, and serial entrepreneur Vladas Lašas.
Founded in 2019, Blackswan Space has already made strides in autonomous space tech through collaborations with the European Space Agency (ESA) and commercial partners. Their core offerings include:
- Mission Design Simulator (MDS): This software allows clients to simulate complex maneuvers for spacecraft, including in-orbit servicing, object retrieval, and real-time constellation simulations.
- Vision Based Navigation (VBN) Payload: This hardware component equipped with proprietary algorithms empowers spacecraft to navigate autonomously when ground control is unavailable.
“With the increasing number of satellites and space infrastructure, managing everything from the ground becomes impractical,” said Marius Klimavicius, co-founder and CEO of Blackswan Space. “Blackswan Space is positioned to address this challenge by providing autonomous navigation solutions.”
The company plans to utilize the fresh capital to expand their engineering team, accelerate product development, and scale up commercial activities.
Dave Harden, a partner at ScaleWolf and former executive at the US Air Force’s research lab AFWERX, expressed his enthusiasm: “Blackswan Space’s vision and technology perfectly align with the growing importance of space domain awareness in the defense sector. We’re proud to be early supporters.”
Linas Sargautis, a prominent space industry figure and co-founder of NanoAvionics, echoed these sentiments: “I’m thrilled to back this talented team pushing boundaries in in-orbit servicing, a rapidly developing field.”
Blackswan Space’s journey since 2019 has been fueled by internal funding, R&D grants, and ESA contracts. This new injection of capital empowers them to accelerate development and commercialization in 2024, paving the way for in-orbit demonstrations of their core technologies in the coming years. Ultimately, Blackswan Space aims to become a key player in enabling the exponential growth of the in-space economy.
