Kurs Orbital, an Italian spacetech start-up, has secured €1.1 million in soft loan from the Italian Smart&Start program. Supporting the creation and growth of innovative high-tech start-ups in Italy, Smart&Start is an incentive program managed by Invitalia, the National Development Agency.
Founded in 2022, Kurs Orbital is incubated in I3P, the Innovative Companies Incubator of Politecnico di Torino, and partner of Sistema Invitalia Startup, and is one of the first alumni of the ESA BIC Turin incubation program, by which Kurs Orbital has been recently awarded as "Start-up of the Year" for 2024. On March of the same year, the young company raised €3.7 million in seed funding, on a round led by OTB Ventures and joined by Credo Ventures, Galaxia, In-Q-Tel and Inovo.
Democratising in-orbit space servicing and logistics
The start-up aims to democratise in-orbit servicing solutions including space debris removal, satellite relocation, de-orbiting, and satellite inspections, by providing reliable and cost efficient rendezvous and docking technology. Its innovative ARCap module makes it possible for servicing and logistics industries, who would otherwise be unable to afford operating in the orbital market, to scale up their business.
The funding will allow Kurs Orbital to acquire new equipment, services, personnel and supplies that will boost its activities towards the completion of its first flight model. ARCap is a single and standardised rendezvous module which can be integrated into any kind of satellite, orbital transfer vehicle (OTV), cargo/crewed ship, or spacecraft bus the customer uses to enable transportation, life extension, in-orbit servicing, space debris removal, and more.
“We couldn’t have asked for a better conclusion to this year”, said Volodymyr Usov, Kurs Orbital’s CEO and Co-founder. “The Smart&Start program will provide essential resources to accelerate the activities around our ARCap module. New people and new equipment will make us bigger, stronger, and closer to the orbit.”
Giuseppe Scellato, President of I3P and Coordinator of ESA BIC Turin, commented: “We are very pleased with this additional funding obtained by Kurs Orbital to support its technology and business expansion plans. The resources received through the financial instrument managed by Invitalia, partner of I3P, will allow the start-up to continue to grow, also internationally.”
