NewOrbit Raises $18.5M Series A Funding To Commercialise Very Low Earth Orbit Satellites

The oversubscribed round was led by Voyager Ventures, with participation from angel investors including David Kirk, former Chief Scientist at NVIDIA, Lawrence Leuschner, co-founder and former CEO of TIER Mobility, and family office Custos. Existing investors Atlantic.vc, Lifeline Ventures, LGF, and Illusian also participated.

Founded in 2021 and headquartered in Reading, NewOrbit is building satellites designed to operate in this ultra-low orbital band, which has largely been used for government and scientific missions such as the International Space Station and reconnaissance satellites.

Flying closer to Earth enables significantly higher resolution imaging and lower-latency communications compared to traditional satellite systems in higher orbits. The company believes this could unlock drone like imaging quality and more affordable direct-to-device connectivity than current satellite constellations.

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However, VLEO is highly challenging due to extreme conditions including atmospheric drag, atomic oxygen and aerodynamic forces, which make long-term operations difficult. NewOrbit is addressing this with purpose-built satellites featuring proprietary propulsion technology designed to operate for up to five years in this environment.

The funding will support the construction of NewOrbit’s NEO Production Complex a manufacturing facility planned for 2027. The site is expected to produce the company’s first commercial satellite ahead of a scheduled 2028 launch and scale production capacity as operations expand.

The company is targeting use cases in Earth observation and satellite based connectivity where operating closer to Earth can deliver significant performance advantages over traditional orbital deployments.

Anatolii Papulov, CEO and co-founder of NewOrbit, said the company views very low Earth orbit as a largely untapped opportunity within the space economy:

For decades, very low Earth orbit has been considered too challenging for commercial satellite operations. We believe it represents a significant opportunity for new services and applications that are not possible with existing orbital infrastructure.