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The honest summary of Day 1 of SmallSat Europe 2026: the capital is in, the technology exists, the talent is available, and none of it works without procurement reform. The procurement architecture is the lever that decides whether the capital pivot builds an ecosystem or simply reinforces the incumbent prime base.
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Cowboy Space Corporation, formerly Aetherflux, closed a $275M Series B led by Index Ventures and filed plans for a 20,000-satellite "Stampede" constellation three days later. The largest single capital commitment in orbital compute history lands inside a thesis SatNews has been mapping bottleneck by bottleneck all year. Editor-in-Chief Nick Warfield on what Cowboy actually bet $275M on, and what they have to prove.
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Jean-François Morizur co-founded Cailabs in 2013 after co-inventing Multi-Plane Light Conversion during his PhD in quantum optics. At SmallSat Europe, the CEO joins a panel on quantum-ready constellations and unhackable optical links.
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Leaf Space co-founder Giovanni Pandolfi Bortoletto has built a 40-plus-station global ground network supporting 170+ satellites and 22,000+ passes per month. At SmallSat Europe, he joins the Hybrid Ground Segment panel to argue the constraint has moved from orbit to Earth.
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Loft Orbital co-founder Alexander Greenberg sells compute time in orbit, not satellites. A €50M CNES contract, $170M Series C, and a 10-satellite constellation launching this fall. At SmallSat Europe, he brings the orbital compute thesis to the stage.
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GomSpace CEO Carsten Drachmann turned a nanosat engineering shop into a profitable serial manufacturer. Revenue hit 441.8M SEK in 2025, up 72%, as European defense contracts stack up. At SmallSat Europe, he brings the factory floor to the conversation.
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Former French Space Command chief Gen. Michel Friedling co-founded Look Up Space to give Europe commercial space surveillance. The company raised €50M in 2025 and is deploying radars from Toulouse to French Polynesia. At SmallSat Europe, he brings the operator's blind spot into focus.
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OroraTech CEO Martin Langer operates 14 thermal satellites that detect fires as small as 4×4 meters. Greece and Canada are already buying. At SmallSat Europe, he brings the thermal layer to the EO conversation.
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Sateliot CEO Jaume Sanpera built the first LEO constellation on the 5G NTN standard. At SmallSat Europe, he's the only satellite operator on a panel of space lawyers debating the EU Space Law.
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Isar Aerospace CEO Daniel Metzler speaks at SmallSat Europe as the company builds on its first Spectrum launch, ESA contracts, and a 2027 orbital deadline under the European Launcher Challenge. The question isn't whether the vehicle works — it's whether Europe's customers will commit the manifest volume to sustain the companies trying to serve them.
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