ATMOS Space Cargo has completed a €25.7 million Series A funding round, co-led by Balnord and Expansion Ventures, with support from Keen Defence and Security, the European Innovation Council, OTB Ventures, High-Tech Gründerfonds, APEX Ventures, Seraphim, and seven additional investors.
With growing demand for in-orbit manufacturing, advanced materials research, and dual-use space security, Europe faces a strategic risk due to the lack of an independent return infrastructure. ATMOS and its partners want to make microgravity manufacturing as common and accessible as production on Earth, strengthening Europe’s ability to access and return from orbit after the ISS era.
The spacetch startup was founded in 2021 by Sebastian Klaus, Marta Oliveira, Jeffrey Hendrikse, Christian Grimm and is based in Lichtenau, Germany, with a subsidiary in Strasbourg, France. ATMOS serves industries such as in-space manufacturing, semiconductor validation, agricultural research, and defence. The company has 41 employees and has raised about €46 million so far.
The PHOENIX platform is a reusable Orbital Transfer and Return Vehicle (OTRV) that includes its propulsion and power generation systems, as well as an Inflatable Atmospheric Decelerator (IAD). This heat shield and aerodynamic brake help reduce material loss and improve payload efficiency. PHOENIX 2 can support missions lasting from a few hours to several months in Low Earth Orbit, perform autonomous de-orbiting, and enable controlled re-entry to quickly recover payloads.
The first PHOENIX 2 recovery is scheduled to take place near the Azores, using Portugal’s ANACOM commercial orbital re-entry licence. This is the first licence of its kind granted by an EU member state. ATMOS has also signed a seven-mission agreement with Space Cargo Unlimited, and 80% of the first mission’s payload space is already booked.
ATMOS’s direct competitors include The Exploration Company, Raven Space Systems, and Yuri. Unlike rivals, the company’s focus on dual-use technology positions it among new orbital security providers as Europe boosts investment in sovereign space capabilities in response to shifting NATO dynamics.
“ATMOS is building exactly the kind of dual-use capability Europe needs more of: sovereign access not only to orbit, but back from orbit — a crucial part of the logistics backbone of a real European space industrial base,” says Aleksander Dobrzyniecki, General Partner at Balnord.
The new funding will support a three-vehicle PHOENIX 2 operational campaign, the launch of ATMOS WORKS for European government and defence clients, and the early development of PHOENIX 3. PHOENIX 3 is a next-generation orbital return vehicle designed to carry about one metric tonne, which is about ten times the capacity of PHOENIX 2.
