Just one month after the Bulgarian nanosatellite manufacturer EnduroSat successfully launched its Balkan-1 satellite, designed by the European Commission under the Copernicus program to observe the Earth, the company has attracted the interest and money of investors once again.
With a total of 20 million euros, the company's existing investors retain their participation in EnduroSat, and a new player is also joining - the Romanian Morphosis Capital Fund II, raising the total amount of external investments in the company to 48 million euros.
The leader in the round is the European fund CEECAT Capital, which invested 10 million euros in Raycho Raychev's project back in 2023, and then unofficially valued the company at a minimum of 100 million euros. It is difficult to determine its valuation today, but traditionally at the Series A or B stage, investors receive between 10 and 15% of the shares in the company, which would mean that the current valuation of EnduroSat is between 150 to 200 million euros. The sole owner of the Bulgarian company Endurosat is a company of the same name in Luxembourg.
Raychev's startup was created in 2015 with the mission of making space services significantly more accessible and flexible. In 2018, it launched its first satellite. Today, it works with more than 350 international clients and more than 60 internally developed satellites in orbit. It also has a team of 220 engineers and technologists in its six offices in Europe and the US. The Bulgarian company employed 181 people at the end of 2024, the register shows.
A booming player in a growing sector
A particularly good sign for a startup is if its current investors are keen not just to maintain their stakes in the next round of financing, but to increase them. "In this round, we are maintaining and even slightly increasing our stake because the company continues to exceed our expectations in a sector in which we see huge potential," commented Anthony Stocker, partner at CEECAT Capital, in a conversation with "Capital".
The funds will be used to increase the company's capacity and will allow it to increase the size of the satellites it produces, "which will help it penetrate a larger niche in the market," CEECAT Capital said.
"We are creating two classes of new satellites and launching third-generation satellite systems," Raychev reports, adding that the teams are preparing for the implementation of several new satellite missions, which are "with very large technological challenges."
CEECAT does not exaggerate the growth of EnduroSat. In 2023, the EnduroSat company reported revenues of 27.1 million levs, which marked double growth compared to 2022, when sales were 13.5 million levs. The change in net result is also sharp - the company ended 2022 with a loss of 1.5 million levs, which in 2023 turned into a profit of 6.5 million levs.
"Over the past year, we have gained new customers and are entering new segments of the satellite industry, as was our plan. We are simply following our strategy," explains Raychev, specifying that for the time being the company does not plan to raise capital in the foreseeable future. EnduroSat's report for 2024 is not yet public, but according to Raychev, the expectations are that growth will once again be nearly double.
The largest Space R&D center in Europe
In the summer of 2024, it became clear that the former Alpha Bank headquarters on the "4th kilometer" in Sofia, which had been deserted for eight years, was now owned by Raichev and Petar Mitev, co-founder of the 3D visualization company Chaos. According to market data at the time, it was reported that its price was about 20 million euros, and the purpose of the purchase - to turn the 17 thousand square meters of area into the largest space center for development activities in Europe.
"It is not in our style to brag, but to communicate data and facts when we are implementing our strategy," Raichev commented on the development of the center, adding that the preparation of the building is going according to plan and is fundamental for the next steps in the company's development. "We will share additional information as soon as we can. I am proud that we will be working with exceptional partners in the creation of the center and they are all Bulgarian companies with many years of proven experience," he added.
About the new investor
The new minority partner in the company is the Romanian fund Morphosis Capital, which is making its first investment outside the country. "EnduroSat has built an impressive reputation as an innovator in the European space industry, developing cutting-edge solutions that optimize the efficiency and scale of satellite operations," commented Dragos Petre, partner at Morphosis Capital.
This is the third deal for its second fund, Morphosis Capital Fund II, which will allocate 100 million euros for investments in Central and Eastern Europe in sectors such as healthcare, technology, consumer products and retail and B2B services.
Just one month after the Bulgarian nanosatellite manufacturer EnduroSat successfully launched its Balkan-1 satellite, designed by the European Commission under the Copernicus program to observe the Earth, the company has attracted the interest and money of investors once again.
With a total of 20 million euros, the company's existing investors retain their participation in EnduroSat, and a new player is also joining - the Romanian Morphosis Capital Fund II, raising the total amount of external investments in the company to 48 million euros.
