Leaf Space continues to grow and, with a new round of funding worth 3 Mn EUR, the financial resources available for the development of its services in the New Space Economy sector reach over 7 Mn EUR.
JUNE 2020 – Leaf Space, an Italian company specialized in providing ground segment services for microsatellites, has recently closed a Series A investment round to finance the scale-up phase of its business model. The company, founded in 2014 in Milan by Jonata Puglia, Michele Messina and Giovanni Pandolfi, has a well-established presence in Europe, North America, and APAC and with this round has raised another €3 million that will allow it to consolidate and expand its services dedicated to microsatellite operators. The objective of this investment is to strengthen Leaf Space’s presence in the New Space Economy by supporting both the expansion of its current satellite antenna infrastructure as well as the development of new services and technologies. This activity will favor and further strengthen the existing and solid commercial base, which is embedded in a sector that is focused on the satellite communications of the future and is therefore also of more strategic importance for facing the impacts of COVID-19 on the global economic system.
This new €3 million round was carried out by an investment group in which Whysol Investments is the Lead Investor, followed by RedSeed Ventures. The latter has already been present in Leaf Space since its first steps, having invested a total of €1.4 million of capital between 2016 and 2019.
“The New Space market has been growing for years, a real boom linked to the birth and development of microsatellites. So far, the sector is proving more resilient than others to the impact of the COVID-19 crisis, and Leaf Space is a clear example. The closing of this round is an extraordinary achievement for which I want to thank our investors, all our partners, and employees for the commitment and professionalism shown in recent months” said Jonata Puglia, CEO and co-founder of Leaf Space.
“Innovation is the connective thread that has always guided us in our investment selection. During the start-up phase, Leaf Space has proven to be able to rapidly develop and provide a range of innovative services and technologies in the ground service segment, starting with the transmission and collection of data. We have decided to continue to support them also during the scale-up phase because we firmly believe in the multidisciplinary skills of the management team and in the potential of the New Space Economy.” Alberto Bitetto, Founder and Chairman of Whysol Investments.
“This is a further demonstration of how Made in Italy is competitive at the global level even in very technological sectors like the New Space Economy. Leaf Space is now a global-level company of reference in the microsatellite ground segment sector, able to compete with giants that have operated on the market for decades,” said Elisa Schembari, Founder and Managing Partner of RedSeed Ventures and Leaf Space Chairman.
Today, Leaf Space has globally-distributed satellite communications infrastructure, with 5 antennas installed and operational. The Leaf Line communication service has been used by over 14 customers. Companies such as Astrocast, Pixxel, Virgin Orbit, D-Orbit, and many others around the world use Leaf Space’s services to expand and consolidate their business, together with major institutional clients including the European Space Agency (ESA), Telespazio-Leonardo, the German Space Agency (DLR), and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
With this investment, the company has raised a total of more than 7 million Euros and is moving away from the world of start-ups to take a more mature path as an Innovative SME.
Considering the positive results of its commercial service in Europe and the US three years after its market entry, Leaf Space will use the funding to further expand its already active ground station network, with new sites in North America, the Azores, the equatorial zone, and the southern hemisphere. In particular, the expansion of the network will reduce communication latency in Europe, the US, and Australia, being able to provide data uplink and downlink service once per orbit in SSO (Sun-Synchronous Orbit) and equatorial orbit. By the end of 2020, the network will have a total of more than 10 ground stations dedicated to the multi-customer service Leaf Line, in addition to several stations dedicated to the Swiss customer Astrocast, using the exclusive Leaf Key service.
The new capital raised will also finance technological development activities, to expand towards higher communication frequencies, and to increase the supported data-rate, allowing Leaf Space to serve other satellite classes, launch providers, and High Altitude Platforms (HAPs).
Leaf Space S.r.l. is an Italian technology SME providing innovative Ground Segment services for microsatellites. The company was born from the vision of a group of aerospace engineers at the Politecnico di Milano: to build a “listening” network for microsatellites that could provide innovative and efficient services to satellite operators in the collection of data on the ground. The strategy of outsourcing the ground segment allows satellite operators to significantly reduce development and management costs by using the Leaf Line and Leaf Key services provided by Leaf Space.
The company has already been active in the market for several years, having activated communication services with various private and institutional space operators in Europe, America, Asia, and Australia. More information about Leaf Space can be found at www.leaf.space
Whysol Investments is an independent Investment Company specialized in the Energy Transition and Digital Transformation sectors. Founded in 2008 by Alberto Bitetto, with Giovanni Gios and Alberto Marcon, Whysol is specialized in club deal operations, with personal investment by partners. A model that enables direct investment in subsidiaries, operating with a hands-on approach and significant first-person involvement in asset and operational management.
RedSeed Ventures is an investment firm specialized in technology startups and SMEs, founded and managed by Elisa Schembari and Roberto Zanco. Among RedSeed’s shareholders are Roberto Italia, who since 2017 has been Chairman of Avio S.p.A., a leading Italian company in the launcher and space propulsion sector, and Space Holding, an investment firm that has listed Avio S.p.A. on the Milan Stock Exchange via a SPAC.
RedSeed Ventures boasts a portfolio of seven innovative startups/SMEs. All the companies in its portfolio operate in highly technological sectors and are Italian, but serve global markets (in addition to the aerospace sector, RedSeed has invested in medical devices, industrial innovation, and the digital economy).
