Cracow, Poland (15.05.2023) – Liftero successfully closed a pre-seed funding round, securing investment from Sunfish Partners, Freya Capital, bValue, and angel investors to pursue its vision to revolutionize orbital transportation.
The company, founded in 2019, builds on its strong experience gained by working with the European Space Agency and EU-funded projects, which laid the solid foundation for an ambitious endeavour on the emerging space market.
Liftero takes the next step towards space logistics with a vision to revolutionize space access by developing reusable orbital transfer vehicles able to take any payload from point A to B in space. The company bets on the rise of reusable launchers, sized from medium to super-heavy, which will allow very low-cost access to space. These launchers will work as a shuttle, delivering large batches of satellites to the hub orbits, driving the need for orbital last-mile delivery. Liftero’s space tugs will take customer satellites from the hub orbits further to their final destination, whether to the LEO, MEO, GEO, or even Lunar orbit.
“Super-heavy and reusable launchers are coming to the market, with SpaceX leading the way, and with them, we expect space access to transform into a so-called hub-and-spoke transportation model, in which our space tugs will play a critical role,” says Liftero CEO & CTO Tomasz Palacz.
The raised funds will be used to accelerate the development of the first company’s orbital transfer vehicle, Motus, dedicated to deploying large nanosatellite constellations. It is the smallest orbital transfer vehicle on the market and is equipped with a unique volume-efficient green propulsion system, enabling fast and efficient satellite constellation deployment.
“We aim to launch Motus on the demo flight as soon as 2025,” says Tomasz Palacz. “We are very excited by the mission as it will demonstrate our capability to maneuver in space and deploy customer satellites to different orbital slots. We will then use Motus to test reusability enabling technologies and AI-based autonomous operations for future spacecrafts.”
“We are confident in our plans and thankful to our investors for their trust in our vision,” says Liftero COO Przemysław Drożdż. “Even amid challenging macro-economic market conditions and spacetech being a niche investment industry in CEE, we raised significant funds to get us going on the growth trajectory. Our goal is to provide a last-mile delivery service for any spacecraft to any orbit, and Motus is the first building block on our path, towards which we are moving full steam ahead.“
“Space logistics enabled by reusable orbital transfer vehicles can play a critical role in the growth of the space economy. They will provide critical capabilities for commercial and governmental customers. We are excited to support the Liftero founders in revolutionizing orbital transportation,” says Dr. Marcus Erken, Founding Partner at Sunfish Partners.
“We are very pleased with the fact that the level of private investment in Polish space companies is growing, which is essential for building a strong sector and competing in the international market,” says Grzegorz Wrochna, President of the Polish Space Agency. “Liftero has convinced investors, which is a very good sign, especially since the company plans to develop a complete space system. We wish them success and, at the same time, will support and follow the company’s further progress with interest.”
