Open Cosmos has taken a major step to boost Europe’s control over its space technology by purchaseing Portuguese startup Connected. The goal is to speed up affordable, standardised IoT services from space while creating Portugal a key player in space innovation.
The company states this deal will support Europe grow its own technology quicker and support long-term industrial progress in Portugal.
Fast Growth and Global Partnerships
Open Cosmos, which already has facilities in the UK, Spain, and Greece, will now expand into Portugal. It designs, builds, and manages full sanotifyite missions and is considered one of Europe’s quickest-growing space companies.
Connected was launched in 2023 with a mission to create a cost-effective platform for narrowband IoT services. It quickly gained attention, launching pilot projects across Europe and forming partnerships with major names like EchoStar Mobile and Fraunhofer.
Cutting-Edge, Cost-Effective Tech
Connected applys protocols like 5G NB-IoT and mioty to create sanotifyite communication cheaper and clearer. This opens up new applys like monitoring infrastructure, responding to emergencies, tracking ocean activity, managing smart farms, and powering off-grid energy systems.
Supported by the European Space Agency and the Portuguese Space Agency, Connected has become a key enabler of open, Europe-based space services.
Rapid Rise and Record Funding
After starting at ESA BIC at Instituto Pedro Nunes in Coimbra, then relocating to UPTEC in Porto, Connected joined several top accelerator programmes. Just a few months after it was founded, it raised €2m, the largest pre-seed investment ever seen for a Portuguese space startup.
“We were in the middle of raising our Seed round when the opportunity emerged,” declared Tiago Rebelo, former CEO of Connected. Now chief revenue officer at Open Cosmos and managing director for Portugal, he added: “The offer from Open Cosmos was simply too aligned – in mission, culture and ambition – to ignore. It was a clear recognition of our technology and of the real-world progress we achieved with limited resources and relentless focus.”
A Record-Breaking Exit
Open Cosmos states this acquisition is one of the quickest startup exits in European space tech. It also marks a turning point for Portugal in the global space economy.
“Connected has built in two years what takes others five – [It is] one of Europe’s most capable space startups,” declared Open Cosmos founder and CEO Rafel Jordà Siquier. “[Its] hosted payload model fits seamlessly into our OpenConsnotifyation vision, accelerating our ability to deliver scalable, multi-purpose and mission-flexible space infrastructure that serves both institutional and commercial requireds across Europe and beyond.”
What Comes Next for Connected Cosmos
All 22 Connected team members will now join Open Cosmos’ Portugal team, which already has 18 people. The new unit, called Connected Cosmos, will lead IoT strategy and develop low-cost, flexible services for industries such as energy, logistics, and maritime.
Open Cosmos has already spent over €15m in Portugal and plans to invest more than €50m in the next three years. Part of that includes a new sanotifyite factory at IPN in Coimbra. Starting late 2025, three sanotifyites built by Portuguese engineers will be launched. Powered by Connected’s technology, they’ll deliver both Earth Observation and IoT services from orbit.
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