- Foundational has raised £8.2 million in pre-seed funding as it emerges from stealth mode.
- Hira Virdee and Dave Gooding established Lumi Space in London in 2025.
- The company states that its stations cost up to 30 times less than older systems.
Foundational states that its satellite laser ranging is so accurate that it’s as if you could tell from London whether a car in Edinburgh has moved forward by the width of a pencil. The London-based startup hopes to turn this laboratory technique into a commercial service and made its debut to the public, raising £8.2 million in pre-seed funding.
The investors were Inflection, BACKED, Final Frontier, Adjacent, and Type One Ventures. The funds will be used to construct more ground stations, manufacture space hardware in-house, boost retroreflector production, and develop the data platform. The company states that this is the largest space-tech pre-seed round in Europe.
Hira Virdee, CEO and co-founder of Foundational, said, “Every time you tap your card, check your map or make a phone call, you’re relying on satellite infrastructure — but the technology we use to track exactly where satellites are hasn’t kept up with the explosion of the space economy.”
Another startup carries out work that the first company had begun
Virdee began his career by obtaining a PhD in astrodynamics at University College London, a programme funded by the US Air Force Research Laboratory. In 2018 he set up Lumi Space with the assistance of the European Space Agency and the UK Space Agency.
According to Crunchbase, the company has received funding from several grant organisations and accelerators, including the European Innovation Council and Creative Destruction Lab.
Dave Gooding, the co-founder of Foundational and its chief technology officer, has been writing papers on laser ranging with Virdee since 2022, the most recent of which was published in 2025 under the name Lumi Space.
Foundational Limited was established in 2025, and Lumi Space Limited is still operating, with Virdee serving as a director in both companies.
What laser technology can and cannot do
The ESA report on the space environment for 2026 showed that by the end of 2025 there were 44,964 objects, as over 300 launches that year added 4,000 payloads. The ESA model predicts there will be 68,450 objects larger than 10cm by 1st February 2026, including about 11,300 active payloads, as well as 1.5 million pieces of debris measuring between 1cm and 10cm.
Foundational states that debris of that size can destroy a working satellite.
“Satellite Laser Ranging is the gold standard, and is one of the most precise measurement tools humanity has built, capable of pinpointing a satellite to within millimetres, but until now it’s been too costly and too complex to use at scale,” said Virdee.
A major limitation exists. As Foundational describes, laser ranging works by firing pulses at a retroreflector attached to the object in question. Since loose debris lacks such reflectors, the level of precision applies only to those who have fitted a reflector, which is probably why Foundational also offers this equipment. According to the company, there are three models that do not require power, electronics, or aiming.
The package consists of retroreflectors, automated ground stations, and a software platform known as Origin. The company states that the system is fully automated, weatherproof, 30 times cheaper than earlier stations, and designed to function as a network. The data can be used by satellite operators, insurers, and governments for purposes such as navigation, Earth observation, surveying, maritime and aviation activities, and for critical infrastructure in the fields of telecoms, energy, finance, logistics, and transport.
The space situational awareness market will increase from $1.73 billion in 2025 to $2.79 billion by 2030, representing a yearly growth rate of 10%.
Competitors use different methods. LeoLabs has raised more than $120 million through ground radar to track objects, while Finland’s Aavuus is also setting up a network of laser stations and obtained pre-seed funding from Maki.vc in June, even though the amount received was not made public. Space DOTS, based in London, sells orbital intelligence from its own sensors and has raised $1.5 million in a seed round.
Why investors are backing the infrastructure layer
“By bringing the hardware, ground network and data platform together under one roof, we’re rebuilding a critical layer of space infrastructure for the commercial era. This investment lets us expand our global network, putting precision positioning data in the hands of satellite operators and governments worldwide, and laying the groundwork for new data products that will benefit life here on Earth,” added Virdee.
Alexander Lange, founding partner at Inflection, added: “Almost everything in orbit, and a surprising amount on the ground, depends on knowing exactly where things are. Existing measurement technology isn’t suitable for the next space era or the rise of physical AI and its navigation challenges. Foundational is rebuilding it as a commercial network with flying hardware and paying customers, rooted in decades of scientific research the team has been contributing to.”
Funding for space ventures in Europe is on the rise. In July, Primo Capital is raising €120 million for its second space fund, and in June, it listed 10 space technology companies to watch. The Exploration Company completed a Series C round of $450 million in September. In July, Turin-based ORiS raised a pre-seed round of €4.5 million to get lasers into orbit for power beaming.
It is obvious that improved position data are required in orbit, according to ESA’s figures. Yet it is still unclear whether the operators will be willing to pay for millimetre-level accuracy on satellites which have reflectors, particularly as the debris that worries them has still not been tracked.
