OKAPI: Orbits, a startup providing space traffic management software to coordinate and optimize operations of satellites, rockets and sensors, has raised a EUR5.5 million seed funding round led by San Francisco based MunichRe Ventures, the venture capital arm of Munich RE Group, with participation from US firm, Dolby Family Ventures, and European VCs Herius Capital and APEX Ventures.
The funding will be used to expand the platform’s user base, further develop and enhance the product portfolio and grow OKAPI’s international footprint in the space situational awareness market, reports the company.
“As a result of the increasing number of activities in space coupled with dangerous amounts of debris, assets in space face frequent interferences, close approaches, and potential collisions,” said a company press release. “In order to avoid such incidents and secure an interruption-free use of technology in space, the OKAPI:Orbits platform utilizes selective data sets and algorithms – combined and applied in a highly dynamic environment – to significantly reduce unnecessary manoeuvres, loss of fuel, and high service downtimes.
“OKAPI: Orbits aggregates a very precise and holistic map of objects and actions conducted in space in its Space Traffic Management software. The platform fuses radar, telescope, in-orbit sensors, and laser ranging data to an independent data set, which predicts risk, interferences, and environmental impacts with a high degree of accuracy. This assessment helps operators to extend the lifetime of their space assets by several months, reduce costs in operations by a factor of 10, and increase the reliability of their services.”
OKAPI: Orbits Co-Founder and CEO Kristina Nikolaus, said, “Our overarching mission is to help operators to increase the lifetime of their assets with a minimal ecological footprint, keeping their investments safe and taking advantage of the great opportunities the booming space market has to offer for solving earth’s problems.”
Nikolaus continued, “We’re building the first-ever tool designed to maximize profits and secure zero impact in the precious space environment. With OKAPI: Orbits, everyone who is working in and with space has can access critical information with just one click, integration into customer systems takes less than 10 minutes, and operators know exactly how missions can be optimized without interfering with others. The opportunity here is massive: more than 70 thousand satellites1 will be operated in low Earth orbits within the next decades – almost seven times more satellites than launched between 1957 and 2020.”
The German startup has provided services to more than 50 spacecraft in orbit and over 150 registered users across the globe in Europe, United States and Asia-Pacific. OKAPI:Orbits also offers risk analysis, full simulation capabilities, and tools to ensure compliance with regulations and industry standards.
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