Polish Space Startup Eycore Taps Demand for Satellite Intelligence as Era of ‘Peace Dividend’ Ends

Polish space-tech startup Eycore Sp zoo expects its revenue to multiply annually, capitalizing on European governments’ scramble to secure sovereign satellite intelligence.

For decades, satellites were seen as strategic assets reserved for global powers. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has changed that calculus, driving demand for faster and flexible intelligence systems from small- and medium sized countries. The war in the Middle East has reinforced that shift too.

“The peace dividend that Europe lived on for many years is over for a long time,” co-founder and Deputy Chief Executive Officer Tomasz Kusowski said in an interview. “We are seeing a global trend today, one that is probably strongest in Europe, where governments are strongly committed to independent access to satellite data.”

Founded five years ago, Warsaw-based Eycore provides synthetic aperture radars, or SARs, which offer high-resolution, all-weather, day-and-night imaging. Rather than launching its own satellite constellation, a highly capital-intensive model, Eycore is positioning itself as a supplier of the critical SAR payloads directly for satellite platform manufacturers.

“There are far more manufacturers of satellite platforms than there are of SAR radar systems, and this is precisely where we see the potential for rapid growth in sales,” Kusowski said.

Elite Club

The market for SAR payloads is very tight. According to Kusowski, as of 2021, only five companies globally owned privately operated SAR-equipped satellites in orbit and the number hasn’t changed much since then.

By launching its first in-orbit demonstration satellite in May, Eycore broke into the exclusive club that includes aerospace giants like Airbus SE, Thales SA and OHB System AG.

The May mission was a crucial milestone needed to validate the technology for potential customers. The initial satellite delivered imaginary with accuracy of single meters, which exceeded the firm’s “wildest expectations.”

Eycore is now supplying an advanced, sub-meter resolution radar for Camila, a $59-million Polish national Earth-observation program, developed together with Warsaw-listed Creotech Instruments SA and Scanway SA.

Eycore isn’t just looking at Poland and Europe, and is already fielding inquiries from the Middle East, with supply talks in the region at an advanced stage.

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The startup’s defense DNA stems from its founders, who also hold stakes in Advanced Protection Systems SA, or APS, a Polish supplier of software, sensors and radars in anti-drone systems. Kusowski said that deep ties with military clients at APS revealed a looming demand for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance space payloads.

Polish Space Scene

To meet surging demand, Eycore committed to invest 50 million zloty ($13 million) in a new industrial zone in northern Poland and plans to expand its workforce to more than 70 employees by the end of the year.

The company has already attracted backing from Warsaw-based private equity fund Enterprise Investors and the Leonarto venture capital fund. A funding round of undisclosed value earlier this year was heavily oversubscribed, with demand outstripping supply several times, Kusowski said.

Growing investor appetite for European space technology, including Germany’s investment program, recently drove the valuation of Finnish startup Iceye Oy, which develops and operates constellations of SAR satellites, to €10 billion ($11.4 billion).

Iceye, whose co-founder and CEO Rafal Modrzewski is Polish, has built a significant presence in Poland, running one of its key facilities there.

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Looking ahead, Eycore says that upcoming contracts may generate liquidity so quickly that next financing rounds or debt funding won’t be necessary.

“We’re working on how to streamline our go-to-market strategy as much as possible,” he said. “You could say that we’re about to become a manufacturing company rather than a startup.”