Most space-hardware startups raise money because they are burning it. SWISSto12 raised $70m while turning a profit, an unusual thing in the satellite business.
The Swiss company closed the €61m round days after ESA member states put $84.8m into its HummingSat programme, it said. That is more than $150m of fresh capital in a month. The company did not name its investors.
A profitable space startup
The numbers are unusual for the sector. SWISSto12 booked $140m in revenue in 2025, holds more than $500m in signed contracts, and has grown 110% a year since 2022. It expects to run EBITDA-positive this year.
Founded in 2011 as a spin-out from Switzerland's EPFL, it now employs about 224 people. Its edge is manufacturing. It 3D-prints the radio-frequency guts of its hardware, which makes the parts lighter and faster to build.
What it builds
The company sells two things. HummingSat is a compact geostationary satellite, about a tenth the size of a normal one, that can ride to orbit alongside a bigger craft. HummingLink is a set of payloads and antennas that bolt onto other operators' satellites across orbits.
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That has won it work with the incumbents rather than against them. It holds seven HummingSat contracts, including with SES and Viasat, and has more than 2,000 HummingLink units in orbit. The pitch stretches to direct-to-device connectivity, broadcasting, and sovereign comms.
Europe's space money
The raise fits a wider pattern. European capital is pouring into space and deep tech as the bloc tries to build its own champions, from ICEYE's €450m round down to a string of smaller deals. Government money often leads, with private funding close behind.
The driver is sovereignty. Governments want communications that do not lean on one orbit, one operator, or one foreign power. “Space is increasingly recognised as essential infrastructure for the global economy,” founder and chief executive Emile de Rijk said in the announcement.
The catch
The strategy is not risk-free. GEO orders are shrinking as low-orbit constellations grab broadband and maritime work, so SWISSto12 is betting on a market in flux. It also faces sharper, better-funded rivals.
Chief among them is Astranis, a US firm building similar small GEO satellites that has raised about $1.2bn, TechFundingNews noted. Whether “any payload, any orbit” beats a sharper bet may matter more than the raise. For now, SWISSto12 has what most space-hardware firms lack: a profit.