SWISSto12 raises $70M Series C after ESA backing

SWISSto12 has raised $70 million in Series C funding to expand production of its small geostationary satellites and multi-orbit payload hardware. The round matters because the Renens, Switzerland-based company says it is already EBITDA-positive, a less common position for a space hardware startup raising late-stage capital, and because it comes days after $84.8 million in funding from European Space Agency member states.

The company did not disclose its valuation or name the investors in the Series C, saying only that new and existing backers joined the round. Combined with the ESA-linked support, SWISSto12 has brought in more than $150 million of fresh capital in roughly a month.

SWISSto12 said it generated $140 million in 2025 revenue, reached positive EBITDA in 2026 and has grown at a 110% annual rate since 2022. It also said it has more than $500 million in signed customer contracts. Those figures were not accompanied by margin detail, cash flow figures or a post-money valuation.

What the company sells

Founded in 2011 as a spinout from EPFL by Emile de Rijk, SWISSto12 employs about 224 people and has offices in Switzerland, the U.S. and EMEA. Its business is built around two product lines: HummingSat, a compact GEO satellite, and HummingLink, a family of payloads and antennas that can fly on satellites in low, medium and geostationary orbit.

The company says HummingSat is about one-tenth the size of a conventional GEO satellite. Its pitch to operators is regional capacity without buying a full-size satellite bus, including launches where a HummingSat can ride alongside a larger spacecraft.

SWISSto12 also uses a patented 3D-printing process for radio-frequency hardware. The company claims that approach cuts weight and production time compared with traditional RF components. It said more than 2,000 HummingLink units are already deployed on missions in Europe and Asia-Pacific.

The company has signed seven HummingSat contracts, including deals with SES and Viasat. That puts it in a market historically served by large aerospace primes such as Boeing, Airbus and Thales Alenia Space, although SWISSto12 is selling smaller systems rather than competing only on full-size GEO spacecraft.

Government money and private capital

The $84.8 million in ESA member-state funding came through the HummingSat ARTES partnership project. Participating countries included Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Sweden, Norway and Canada, according to SWISSto12.

The new Series C funding will go toward manufacturing and integration capacity for both HummingSat and HummingLink, the company said. That expansion is aimed at commercial telecom customers and government buyers seeking communications infrastructure across more than one orbit.

SWISSto12 is not alone in the category. Astranis, a U.S. small-GEO satellite company, has raised about $1.2 billion, including a $300 million Series E and $155 million in debt financing. The Swiss company’s positioning is different: SWISSto12 is more exposed to commercial telecom operators and European government programs, while Astranis has been more tied to U.S. government and defense work. Finland’s ReOrbit is another European company targeting government and defense satellite demand.

The market signal

Global Market Insights estimated the multi-orbit satellite communications market at $7.8 billion in 2025 and projected it could reach $31.6 billion by 2035, implying 14.8% annual growth. The demand cited in that market includes government and defense buyers looking for resilient communications that do not depend on a single orbit or operator.

The open question is whether SWISSto12’s spread across GEO satellites, hosted payloads and multi-orbit systems gives it a defensible manufacturing and commercial advantage. GEO order volumes have been under pressure as LEO constellations win more broadband and maritime business. SWISSto12 is trying to serve both the GEO replacement cycle and newer multi-orbit demand, and its contract backlog gives the strategy more substance than a generic space AI or defense-adjacent pitch.

This story draws on original reporting from TechFundingNews.