Okapi raises 13 million euros to expand space traffic management suite

SAN FRANCISCO – German space traffic management startup Okapi:Orbits raised 13 million euros ($14.75 million) in a seed funding round announced April 24.

With the new investment, Okapi will expand its “product portfolio, grow our international team and enhance our proprietary data sets,” Kristina Nikolaus, Okapi co-founder and CEO, told SpaceNews by email. “These advances will help us innovate faster and respond even more effectively to the evolving needs of the market.”

VenTech, a European early-stage venture capital firm, led Okapi’s latest round. Participants included Matterwave Ventures and Amadeus Apex Technology Fund, a firm that supported Okapi’s 2022 seed round.

Since Okapi released its first space traffic management product in 2020, more than 7,000 satellites have relied on Okapi:Astrolabe. Now, the spinoff of the Technical University of Braunschweig provides collision-avoidance and space-situational-awareness tools to customers in Europe, the United States and Asia. One of the company’s specialties, Nikolaus said, is supporting customers through launch and earth operations.

In March, Okapi unveiled a tool to optimize missions prior to launch and to verify compliance with diverse regulations. One of the first customers for the product, Okapi:Soteria, was Hungary’s first commercial low-Earth orbit constellation.

Okapi’s artificial intelligence-based Space Traffic Management platforms is designed to predict, detect and address risks including moving space objects, frequency interference and environmental impacts.

“As the interest in space skyrockets, satellite operators are in dire need of an extensive space-asset catalogue, trustworthy collision-risk predictions, predictable space mission unit economics, and finally an industry-vetted collaboration tool,” Ventech principal Nicolas Barthalon said in a statement. “We are thrilled to support OKAPI:Orbits in becoming the backbone for safe and sustainable space missions, along with new and existing investors.”