€2.5m · Other round · Space · Vilnius, Lithuania
Blackswan Space has raised €2.5m in financing led by Iron Wolf Capital, with participation from Lemonade Stand, NGL Ventures and angel investors Linas Sargautis and Tomas Žalandauskas. The Vilnius-based company told Payload that the round brings its total funding to €3.2m and will finance commercialisation of its RPO Kit, a first in-orbit demonstration planned for the fourth quarter of 2027, and expansion in the US.
The company and current reporting describe the financing as a seed round and Blackswan's second funding round. Tech.eu classifies the transaction as Other, the canonical label EUVC uses for this brief.
From simulation to flight hardware
Blackswan's Mission Design Simulator lets spacecraft teams model rendezvous and proximity operations before launch. Its RPO Kit packages cameras, onboard computing and computer-vision software into a commercial off-the-shelf payload intended to help a satellite identify, track, approach, inspect and ultimately dock with another object in orbit.
That matters because satellite servicing, refuelling and other in-orbit operations depend on highly precise relative navigation. Instead of each operator building that capability from scratch, Blackswan wants to sell a modular system that can be integrated into a customer's spacecraft. The round therefore funds both productisation and flight heritage: a successful 2027 hosted-payload demonstration would turn laboratory and ground-test performance into evidence that prospective mission operators can evaluate.
Blackswan says its simulator already serves customers in Europe and the US, including Auria Space. In January, the company also announced a €600k European Space Agency contract to mature its vision-based navigation technology from technology readiness level 5 toward level 6, including environmental and hardware-in-the-loop testing.
A commercial milestone still ahead
The RPO Kit has been selected for Orbit Fab's ASTRAL in-orbit refuelling mission, planned for 2028. On that mission, Blackswan says the kit will provide relative navigation for approach and docking. The selection gives the company a named deployment path, but the key proof point remains ahead: the 2027 demonstration must establish that the packaged system performs in orbit before broader commercial adoption can follow.
Iron Wolf Capital framed the investment around Europe's need for autonomous space infrastructure. For Blackswan, the commercial test is narrower and more immediate: whether a specialised navigation payload can shorten integration work for servicing companies while meeting the reliability demanded by live orbital operations.
