Cailabs, a global leader in advanced photonics and a member of our New Space group, has announced that it has secured €57 million in new financing to accelerate its industrial and international expansion. This significant funding round will fuel the company's growth, allowing it to scale production of its Optical Ground Stations (OGS) and expand its footprint in key markets.

This structured financing includes a €37 million investment from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and €20 million from a consortium of investors, including the European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund, Definvest and Fonds Innovation Defense, NewSpace Capital, Starquest Capital, and CAIVE.

Accelerating strategic growth

Cailabs, founded in 2013 in Rennes, Brittany, specializes in designing and manufacturing cutting-edge photonic solutions, including a game-changing technology for compensating for atmospheric turbulence. This innovation allows for reliable, high-speed, and low-latency data links between space and terrestrial networks, positioning Cailabs as a key player in the rapidly expanding New Space sector. Read our earlier interview with Cailabs here.

Jean-François Morizur, Co-founder and CEO of Cailabs, said:

“This funding round reflects our solid fundamentals and the confidence investors have in our strategic vision. It enables us to scale up industrial capabilities and prepare for the next stage of growth.”

This funding will support Cailabs' strategic goals, including:

• Scaling up production: The company aims to produce up to 50 OGS annually by 2027. This will be supported by a new industrial platform capable of assembling and validating five stations in parallel.

• Expanding globally: Cailabs will strengthen its international presence, building on recent successes like opening a larger U.S. office and securing major contracts overseas.

• Developing next-gen solutions: The investment will also advance the company's product line, including the development of turnkey 100+Gbps solutions and transportable OGS.

Ambroise Fayolle, Vice-President at the European Investment Bank, said:

“Space technologies are increasingly important for civilian use as well as for security and defense applications. As the bank of the European Union, the EIB supports Cailabs’ investments in manufacturing capabilities and in research & development of its laser communication technologies. The project is fully aligned with the EIB strategic priorities of security and defense, and technological innovation under its TechEU programme.”

Svetoslava Georgieva, Chair of the EIC Fund Board, said:

“The EIC Fund is happy to be part of this funding round for Cailabs, a pioneering company in photonics. Supporting disruptive innovators like Cailabs is essential to strengthening Europe’s competitiveness in deep tech.”

About the EIC Scaling Club

The EIC Scaling Club is a curated community where 120+ European deep tech scale-ups with the potential to build world-class businesses and solve major global challenges come together with investors, corporate innovators and other industry stakeholders to spur growth.

The top 120+ European deep tech companies will be carefully selected from a pool of high-growth scale-ups that have benefitted from EIC financial schemes, other European and national innovation programmes, and beyond.

The EIC Scaling Club is an EIC-funded initiative run in partnership by Tech Tour, Bpifrance (EuroQuity), Hello Tomorrow, Tech.eu (Webrazzi), EurA and IESE Business School.

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