Italian space startup Kurs Orbital raises $4 million in seed funding

Kurs Orbital, an Italian startup developing technology for in-space satellite servicing, announced March 7 it has secured $4 million in seed funding. Based in Turin, Italy, Kurs was co-founded in 2021 by former director of Ukraine’s space agency Volodymyr Usov. The company relocated to Italy in 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine and set up operations at the European Space Agency’s Business Incubation Center. The funding round was led by the European firm OTB Ventures. Other participants include Credo Ventures, Galaxia, In-Q-Tel and Inovo. Usov, who is Kurs’ chief executive, said the seed funds will help to accelerate the development and commercialization of an interface module, called ARCap, that Kurs designed to facilitate in-orbit docking and maneuvers known as rendezvous and proximity operations.

 

Illustration of Kurs Orbital’s interface module, called ARCap, designed to facilitate in-orbit docking and maneuvers. Credit: Kurs Orbital

Module offered to satellite manufacturers

The company does not intend to build servicing vehicles and plans to offer the ARCap as a stand-alone product.

“With the help of our investors, we will be able to reach the market sooner, enabling many other startups and companies to start debris removal and satellite servicing operations,” said Usov.

He said Kurs aims to deliver a “flight ready” ARCap module by late 2025.

“The interface is designed with a modular architecture in mind to be scaled up and down based on application and orbit to be utilized at,” said Usov. The first flight ready system will be developed for missions in low Earth orbit.

Usov said Kurs has several agreements with satellite manufacturers and space logistics companies, including Clearspace, Thales Alenia and D-Orbit.