Portugal’s Neuraspace raises €15.6m for AI space domain awareness

Neuraspace, a Coimbra-based space and defence company providing AI-enabled Space Domain Awareness (SDA) and Space Traffic Management (STM) solutions, today announced €15.6 million in new financing.  The funding comprises strategic private investment from Lince Capital, Explorer Investments and Armilar Venture Partners together with funding awarded under Portugal’s Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRRP).  Chiara Manfletti, CEO of Neuraspace, said, “When Neuraspace was founded, our mission was to make space safer. That mission has evolved with the operational reality. Today, protecting satellites means addressing both accidental risks and intentional threats. Safety and security are no longer separate challenges—they are two sides of the same operational problem. “This investment marks the beginning of Neuraspace’s next phase of growth. We are expanding Europe’s sovereign capabilities in Space Domain Awareness while delivering the AI-enabled operational services that the next generation of commercial, institutional and defence missions will require.” Founded in 2020, Neuraspace provides AI-enabled Space Domain Awareness (SDA) and Space Traffic Management (STM) solutions to commercial, institutional and governmental customers worldwide. According to the company, the space environment is becoming increasingly congested, contested and competitive. Alongside rapidly growing collision risks, Neuraspace also highlighted that satellite operators now face cyber attacks, radio-frequency interference, GNSS spoofing and jamming, and increasingly sophisticated counterspace activities that require continuous operational awareness and rapid decision support. The company states that its platform combines data from commercial and sovereign sensors with high-precision driven orbit determination, AI-enabled risk and threat assessment and autonomous decision support. Thereby enabling commercial operators, government agencies, and defence organisations to detect, assess and respond more rapidly to both routine operational events and emerging threats. Neuraspace also claims to contribute to Europe’s technological sovereignty while reducing dependence on external surveillance capabilities by combining sovereign sensing infrastructure with AI-enabled data fusion and operational automation.  The company reported revenue growth of more than 350% over the past year. Currently, it monitors more than 600 satellites operated by commercial and institutional customers, including Spire Global, GEOSAT, NanoAvionics, Sidus Space, U-Space and the European Space Agency, helping operators prevent collisions, improve operational resilience and safely conduct increasingly autonomous missions. It has also secured contracts with the Portuguese Air Force and NATO, and was recently selected as prime contractor by the European MoD. In October 2022, Neuraspace announced that it had raised €25 million in funding with the support of PRRP and NextGeneration EU Funds. Vasco Pereira Coutinho, CEO of Lince Capital, said, “Neuraspace has established itself as one of Europe’s most promising space technology companies, combining outstanding technical execution with growing commercial traction in a market of increasing strategic importance. We believe Neuraspace is well positioned to become one of Europe’s leading providers of AI-enabled Space Domain Awareness and Space Traffic Management solutions.” The company plans to use this capital to accelerate the expansion of its commercial and defence capabilities in autonomous space operations, sovereign sensing infrastructure and AI. The funding will be used to expand its AI platform, accelerate autonomous mission operations, increase its proprietary optical sensing infrastructure, and further develop NeuraspaceDEF, the company’s dual-use capability supporting governmental and defence users with resilient Space Domain Awareness services.  The post Portugal’s Neuraspace lands €15.6 million to protect satellites and bolster Europe’s space domain awareness appeared first on EU-Startups.