D-Orbit, an Italian start up which develops devices enabling the safe disposal of artificial satellites at the end of their life, removing them from their orbits, announed yesterday a new financing round for a total consideration of 2.2 million euros (download here the press release).
More in detail, Italian private equity and venture capital operator Quadrivio Capital sgr, through TTSeed and TTVenture funds, invested 1.95 million euros in this round, after having invested in D-Orbit since its birth in 2011. Moreover in this round Como Venture was a new D-Orbit shareholder, with a 250k euros investment.
Founded by four aerospace engineers led by ceo Luca Rossettini,D-Orbitinstalls a special device on satellites before their launch. De-orbiting is executed immediately, safely and at any time the end user finds convenient. Space debris are a huge problem. Up to now, more than 6000 satellites have been launched, however only 1100 are still operational. The majority of the others are still orbiting uncontrolled around the Earth. 50 years ago, orbital space was empty; there was enough room for new satellites. With time, uncontrolled and abandoned satellites started exploding and crashing into each other. Today, there are more than 300 million junk objects orbiting through space at 35000 km/h. Collision risk with operational satellites and spacecraft have increased dramatically.
D-Orbit fundraising process is not at its end. It will go on in 2015 among Italian and international investors. Como Ventures, which is an investment vehicle owned by 26 Italian Como-based entrepreneurs, will involve some Como-based companies in a next financing round.
