ORiS Raises €5M to Build a Laser-Powered Energy Grid for Satellites, Drones, and the Moon

A satellite running low on power in orbit today has few options: drift into the dark, throttle down its payload, or end its mission. ORiS (Orbital Recharge in Space), a Turin-based deep-tech startup, is working on a different solution — using lasers to beam power from one spacecraft to another. The company has now secured one of the largest pre-seed rounds ever raised by a space-focused startup to make that vision a reality.

Announced on July 21, 2026, ORiS closed a total of €5 million ($5.7 million) in funding, comprising a €4.5 million equity pre-seed round and a €500,000 regional grant from the Piedmont Region's startup consolidation programme .

Funding Round Details

The equity portion was led by Earlybird Venture Capital and co-led by Pitchdrive, with participation from Galaxia, Vento, and Fondo Piemonte Next . The additional €500,000 grant came from the Italian regional programme "Consolidamento patrimoniale e crescita delle start up innovative" .

At roughly €5 million, the round ranks among the largest space-focused pre-seed rounds globally .

Founding Team

ORiS was founded at Politecnico di Torino and incubated at I3P (the university's startup incubator) and ESA BIC Turin . The CEO and co-founder is Andrea Villa, and the founding team was named to Forbes Under 30 Italy 2024 . At the time of the funding announcement, the company had approximately 15 employees .

How ORiS Plans to Use the Capital

The company will deploy the funds across four main areas :

• R&D on critical subsystems: Accelerating development of the laser-based wireless power transmission (WPT) technology, which is designed to beam power to a receiving satellite's existing solar arrays without requiring modifications .
• Team expansion: Growing the technical staff beyond the current 15 .
• Infrastructure build-out: Moving into new offices with laboratory and clean-room capabilities .
• In-orbit demonstration: A first mission planned for Q1 2027 in partnership with Dcubed on the ARAQYS-D3 platform, aiming to demonstrate laser power beaming across a 10-meter distance in orbit. A second mission with an undisclosed partner is planned later that year .

Technology Roadmap

1. In-Orbit Satellite Energy Grid

ORiS's core technology uses a multi-laser system on a transmitting spacecraft to beam power directly to a receiving satellite's solar arrays. The company says the system is designed to be compatible with any standard solar panel, enabling in-orbit recharging, higher payload duty cycles, operation through eclipse periods, and longer mission lifetimes as solar panels degrade .

2. LOONA Drone Charging (Near-Term Validation)

Developed within the NATO DIANA accelerator programme, LOONA is ORiS's terrestrial wireless power transmission prototype for recharging drones. In its most advanced field test (LOONA-2), the company demonstrated wireless power transfer to a hovering drone at a distance of 102 meters at the Calvarina Training and Testing Facility, a former NATO base . This dual-use path provides near-term revenue and a practical testbed for the same laser technology destined for orbit .

3. Lunar Applications

ORiS is studying wireless power transmission to surface assets such as rovers. The team has completed a feasibility study with Thales Alenia Space for this use case and has been selected by the Italian Space Agency (ASI) for the ALBS study and the ASI-funded DESIGN programme, both focused on lunar power infrastructure .

Key Partnerships

Beyond the investors and space agencies, ORiS has established a network of partnerships that lend credibility to its roadmap :

• Telespazio Germany: Signed a Memorandum of Understanding for in-orbit services.
• Thales Alenia Space: Engaged via the Space Business Catalyst programme and the lunar feasibility study.
• ESA's Meta.Morphos programme: Focused on morphing structures for space applications.
• CISAS (University of Padua): A research partner on the technology development.

What's Next

With the €5 million in hand, ORiS is moving from terrestrial demonstrations to the critical next step: proving its laser power-beaming technology can work in the vacuum of space. The first in-orbit demonstration in early 2027, if successful, would mark a major milestone toward building the space economy's first energy distribution grid — one powered not by cables, but by light.