Blackswan Space raises €2.5M Seed to bring autonomous spacecraft navigation to orbit

Blackswan Space (Vilnius) has raised €2.5 million in a Seed round — its second investment round, bringing total funding to €3.2 million — led by Iron Wolf Capital, with Lemonade Stand, NGL Ventures, space industry investor Linas Sargautis (former NanoAvionics co-founder), and Tomas Žalandauskas participating.

The company develops two core products: the Mission Design Simulator (MDS), software for planning and validating autonomous space missions, and the RPO Kit, a plug-and-play spacecraft payload that handles autonomous rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO) — the ability to locate, approach, and manoeuvre alongside another spacecraft in orbit, without ground control inputs in the loop.

What the RPO Kit is, and why it matters now

Rendezvous and proximity operations are a capability requirement for in-space servicing — refuelling, inspection, debris removal, and orbit adjustment. Today, most RPO operations require significant ground control involvement. Blackswan's RPO Kit claims to embed that autonomous navigation directly in a payload that bolts onto a spacecraft rather than requiring mission-specific custom engineering.

The company's most visible near-term commitment is its role in ASTRAL, Europe's first planned in-space refuelling demonstration, backed by the UK Space Agency and ESA. Orbit Fab's Jake Geer, whose company is leading the ASTRAL mission, named Blackswan's RPO Kit as "one of the most critical components" of the mission. An orbital test of the RPO Kit is scheduled for Q4 2027, with the ASTRAL mission itself targeting 2028.

Baltic-funded, globally relevant

Klimavičius notes with apparent deliberateness that the investor base is entirely regional — Lithuanian and Estonian capital backing a company with additional offices in London and Denver. The Baltic startup ecosystem has a SpaceTech strand — former NanoAvionics co-founder Sargautis's presence on the cap table signals hands-on domain knowledge, not just financial backing.

Capital from this round funds RPO Kit commercialisation, US market entry, and preparation for the Q4 2027 orbital test. The team holds technical risk in the hardware and schedule risk from the ASTRAL mission timeline; a successful demonstration would be a materially different company in 2028.