ORiS raises €4.5M pre-seed to beam power to satellites with lasers
What's the deal? ORiSDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a Turin-based startup, has raised €4.5 million in a pre-seed round to develop laser power-beaming technology for satellites. Earlybird and PitchdriveDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → co-led the round, with participation from GalaxiaDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, VentoDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and Piemonte Next FundDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. The company also secured a €500,000 grant from an Italian regional startup program.
What's the endgame? ORiS is building technology in which one spacecraft uses lasers to transmit power to another, which receives it through unmodified solar arrays. It has tested the system on the ground, powering drones hovering 100m from the transmitter.
Why now? The funding lets the 15-person company move to space testing. In the first quarter of 2027, ORiS will work with DcubedDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → to demonstrate laser power transmission over 10m, followed by a second mission with an undisclosed partner.
By the numbers: The round ranks in the 95th percentile of all-time seed-stage hardware rounds in Italy, based on a sample of 285. It stands out in a market where wireless power beaming is drawing fresh interest.
What's the competition? Florida's Star Catcher IndustriesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → raised $65 million in a Series A in May, but focuses sunlight onto customer satellites rather than using lasers. "With lasers, you can have a much more compact system instead of the big lenses like Star Catcher is using," said chief executive Andrea Villa. He added that ORiS aims to support a network of tens to hundreds of smaller spacecraft.
What else? ORiS's ground-based system, called LOONA, has become a separate line of business and won backing from NATO's Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic. Villa said the company plans to enter that market by the end of 2026.
The signal: Investor and institutional interest is building around power beaming as a way to run satellites with smaller solar arrays and batteries. The US Defense Innovation Unit recently sought commercial power-beaming technologies, targeting an operational military capability by the end of the decade — a sign the field is edging from concept toward deployment.
Read more: SpaceNews
