Finnish-Polish defence tech firm ICEYE has raised over €1 billion at a €10 billion valuation in a funding round led by General Atlantic and backed by investors including Qatar Investment Authority, Solidium Oy, Tesi, Varma, Lifeline Ventures, TCV, and Nokia, marking one of Europe’s largest private space and defence-tech financings.
- ICEYE, founded in 2015 by Rafał Modrzewski, develops and operates a constellation of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) microsatellites that capture high-resolution Earth imagery regardless of weather or lighting conditions.
- Its satellites deliver imagery at up to 25 cm resolution with high revisit frequency, enabling continuous monitoring for defence, intelligence, disaster response, agriculture, and environmental use cases. The company has launched more than 70 satellites since inception and is scaling toward a target of up to 100 satellites annually by 2028.
- Its technology is used by governments and commercial customers, including multiple European defence ministries and international organisations, providing near real-time situational awareness and operational planning capabilities.
- In 2025, the firm secured €9.4 million from Vinci Fund, part of BGK Group, to expand ICEYE’s SAR satellite constellation and strengthen its role in Poland’s defence sector, including the MikroSAR programme with the Ministry of National Defence.
Details of the deal
- Proceeds from the round will be used to accelerate satellite production, expand sovereign intelligence infrastructure, and strengthen ICEYE’s global footprint as demand for real-time Earth observation continues to grow.
"ICEYE has built the world's most advanced, proven capability to meet that demand. This funding enables us to accelerate the delivery of new capabilities to governments and customers faster than ever before," explains Rafal Modrzewski, co-founder & CEO of ICEYE.
