Lithuanian space technology startup Blackswan Space has raised €2.5 million in a seed round, its second investment round, bringing its reported total funding to €3.2 million including its earlier pre-seed. The new capital is intended to help commercialize its autonomous navigation payload, grow sales and expand in the United States.
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Who invested in Blackswan Space’s seed round?
Iron Wolf Capital led the round. Other investors were Lemonade Stand, NGL Ventures, former NanoAvionics co-founder Linas Sargautis and entrepreneur Tomas Žalandauskas.
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Lemonade Stand and Sargautis were existing investors, while NGL Ventures and Žalandauskas joined as new investors, according to coverage of the round.
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What will the funding support?
Blackswan’s earlier pre-seed financing helped it commercialize the Mission Design Simulator (MDS), a tool for modeling and testing autonomous space missions. The company now aims to increase sales of the simulator while using the new funding to advance its RPO Kit and strengthen its US presence.
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The RPO Kit is a payload that uses vision-based navigation for spacecraft rendezvous and proximity operations. The seed funding is intended to support its commercialization and prepare it for an in-orbit demonstration.
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A planned orbital test, followed by ASTRAL
Blackswan’s RPO Kit test is planned for 2027. Reporting in Lithuania puts the target toward the end of that year; these are plans, not a completed test.
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The company is also part of the ASTRAL project consortium and is slated to provide its RPO Kit for an in-space refuelling mission planned for 2028. Separately, the European Space Agency awarded Blackswan a €600,000 contract to mature its vision-based navigation product, with the work intended to support ASTRAL.
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The round therefore backs two related commercial goals: increasing sales of a product already on the market and bringing the RPO Kit closer to an orbital demonstration and its planned role in a future servicing mission.
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