Space debris firm LeoLabs raises $65m as increased number of satellites launched into orbit

Space debris firm LeoLabs has raised $65m in capital in a new fundraising round as an increasing number of satellites are constantly being launched into orbit.

“It’s a great endorsement of our success to date and where we’re headed,” LeoLabs CEO Dan Ceperley told CNBC. “We’re the largest data provider for [low Earth orbit] in the world now [...] we've stepped beyond anybody in the public or private [sectors].”

Investors included Insight Partners and prior investor Velvet Sea Ventures.

So far, the company has raised $100m in total since its founding five years ago, with existing investors including Airbus Ventures, WERU Investment, Space Capital and Horizons Ventures.

As part of the investment, the company added Insight Partners senior advisor Nick Sinai to its board of directors. The LeoLabs board now stands at four, with chairman Manish Kothari, director Kiichiro DeLuca and director Peter Jackson.

Space radars have already been built on the ground in Texas, Alaska, New Zealand and Costa Rica.

LeoLabs currently works with a variety of customers, from Starlink to the Pentagon. They pay a monthly or annual fee to have LeoLabs run a post-launch spacecraft identification to receive warnings of possible collisions.

The company estimates there are about 250,000 pieces of debris over 2cm wide orbiting the Earth. Although there are around 17,000 objects in orbit 10 centimeters or larger.