NewOrbit raises $18.5 million Series A to build VLEO satellites, led by Voyager Ventures
NewOrbit
The UK startup targets 200-300 km very low Earth orbit with air-breathing ion propulsion; first flight planned for 2028.
what happened
UK startup NewOrbit announced an oversubscribed $18.5 million Series A led by Voyager Ventures, with participants including Atlantic, Lifeline Ventures, Illusian, Custos Family Office, former Nvidia chief scientist David Kirk and Tier Mobility co-founder Lawrence Leuschner, per SpaceNews and the company. Per Payload, its NEO-1 satellite is targeted to fly in 2028, checking out in LEO around 600 km before using an air-breathing ion propulsion engine to descend below 300 km, with a production facility planned to build up to 10 satellites a year initially.
why it matters
VLEO is one of the few structurally new plays in EO: flying below 300 km promises sharper imaging from smaller apertures at lower cost, if the drag and propulsion problems are solved. A funded European entrant with named advisors including former ESA chief Jean-Jacques Dordain makes the category investable, and incumbent EO operators now have a stated 2028 date to benchmark against.
for who
EO investors, imaging-satellite manufacturers
signal-to-noise
quick facts
- Companies
- NewOrbit
- Category
- financial
- Impact
- notable
- SNR
- 4 / 5
- Event date
- 2026-06-08
- Published
- 2026-07-08 12:35 UTC