Orbital Paradigm Raises €470K For Reusable Space Capsules, Aiming For €2M Round

This funding is part of a larger €2 million round currently in its first phase. Additional backing comes from Demium Capital, Starburst (a European space-focused fund), and id4 Ventures.

Javier Desantes, CEO of Akka Spain, framed the move as part of the platform’s commitment to giving private investors access to high-impact deeptech opportunities: “Orbital Paradigm represents a differential bet on the invisible infrastructure that will make the orbital economy possible.”

Orbital Paradigm’s main innovation is a fully autonomous, reusable capsule equipped with a ceramic heat shield. It’s designed to safely return delicate materials from orbit, such as proteins, pharmaceuticals, and structures made in microgravity.

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The company’s first prototype, called “KID,” is nearing completion and set for its first mission at the end of 2025. That flight is already fully pre-sold, and the second one is 80% booked. So far, Orbital Paradigm has signed Letters of Intent and pre-contracts with 18 commercial customers, adding up to a total value of €81 million.

Orbital Paradigm’s strong commercial traction and technical innovation played a key role in securing investment from Akka. The firm sees the startup as filling a major strategic gap—while U.S. players like Inversion Space and Space Forge are moving ahead, Europe still lacks private leaders in orbital return logistics.

Akka’s investment committee, which includes co-founders Desantes, Thomas Rebaud, and Pedro Buerbaum, pointed to several reasons behind their decision. These include entering a market expected to reach €300 billion over the next decade, backing a unique and validated technology with in-house navigation software and autonomous sea recovery, and supporting a skilled team with experience at SENER, Deimos, and other DeepTech ventures.

With this funding, Orbital Paradigm plans to tap into Europe’s rising interest in space-related industries like biotech, microgravity manufacturing, and advanced materials testing. The company’s mission is to make space access more affordable and frequent—helping to shape the future of orbital research and in-space production.

“We want anyone to be able to invest in companies building the future,” said Desantes. “Orbital Paradigm represents exactly that: an ambitious vision, proprietary technology, an elite team, and a global market waiting for solutions like this.”

About Orbital Paradigm

Founded in 2023 by aerospace engineer Francesco Cacciatore, Orbital Paradigm is working to solve a key challenge in space exploration—bringing valuable materials back to Earth. With over 15 years of experience on European Space Agency (ESA) missions like Space Rider and MARCOPOLO-R, Cacciatore brings deep technical knowledge to a growing but still early-stage market in Europe.