Marble Imaging closes €6M seed extension to build Germany's first commercial VHR satellite constellation

Marble Imaging (Bremen) has closed a €6 million second close of its seed round, led by Cherry Ventures, bringing total seed equity to €11.3 million. Combined with more than €10 million in non-dilutive grants from DLR and ESA, the company has over €21 million to advance its ambition: building Germany's first commercial very-high-resolution (VHR) Earth observation satellite constellation. The first satellite — Marble Sat-1, known internally as "Morgana" — is planned for a SpaceX launch in early 2027. HTGF, which led the initial €5.3 million seed in December 2025, also participates in this close.

Why Germany still lacks a commercial VHR satellite

Germany is home to some of Europe's strongest aerospace research institutions — DLR itself, the Bremen-based OHB group, and several Fraunhofer facilities specialising in remote sensing — yet it has never produced a commercial VHR constellation of its own. European Earth observation has been dominated by French players (Airbus Defence & Space, Thales Alenia) and US providers (Maxar, Planet). The result is that German insurers, agricultural operators, infrastructure managers, and intelligence-adjacent commercial users all depend on foreign-controlled imagery pipelines.

Marble Imaging's pitch is to place a sovereign German constellation alongside those incumbents. VHR in this context means sub-metre resolution imagery — the kind required to identify individual vehicles, track construction progress on specific structures, or assess crop damage at field level. The company pairs the hardware with an AI-powered analytics platform that processes imagery into actionable products rather than raw data files.

Cherry Ventures leads, DLR and ESA anchor the grant stack

Cherry Ventures' decision to lead this close is notable. The Berlin-based firm is known primarily for software bets — it led Deel, Taxfix, and several other digital-first companies — and deep hardware investments at seed are rare in its portfolio. Its entry at the second close, after HTGF had carried the initial risk, suggests a view that Marble's orbital and production risk has been derisked enough to justify a growth-stage VC leading a seed extension.

The DLR and ESA grant stack provides a structural advantage. Non-dilutive capital for satellite development is typically competitive and slow to materialise; Marble's ability to draw more than €10 million in public grants alongside its equity financing significantly extends its operational runway without diluting the cap table further.

Why it matters

Germany has world-class aerospace engineering institutions but no commercial VHR satellite of its own. Cherry Ventures' entry as lead signals willingness to back deep capex bets that many European software-first VCs avoid. The 18-month proof point is straightforward: does Morgana launch, achieve its orbit, and return imagery at the required sub-metre resolution? If yes, the €21M+ in total financing buys a Series A on operational data. If the launch slips, the thesis gets harder to hold.