MBRYONICS is an Irish company that develops, manufactures, and sells satellite optical communication systems designed to revolutionise data transfer between space and Earth. With extensive experience in research and development on some of the most challenging photonics and optics projects, this scale-up has grown into a notable player in the European space sector.

MBRYONICS is also a member of the EIC Scaling Club New Space Group. We spoke to John Mackey, Co-founder, Director, and CEO of the scale-up, to learn more about its journey, core mission, and the team behind innovations.

Connecting Earth and space seamlessly

Based in Galway, on the west coast of Ireland, MBRYONICS’s core mission is to establish a "fiber to the home" level of broadband connectivity for space-to-ground data transmission, enabling faster, easier, and more secure data transfer.

John shares that the founding vision of MBRYONICS centered on establishing a robust internet infrastructure in space. This would enable communication as humanity expands its presence beyond low Earth orbit, towards lunar and Martian settlements, ensuring constant communication with Earth.

Simultaneously, the company was looking at the challenge of efficiently using Earth observation data, which is increasingly vital in the face of global warming and climate change. As John explains, despite significant advancements in orbital sensors, the high cost of data transmission often leads to valuable information being discarded or remaining inaccessible. 

Recognising the burgeoning era of smaller, more affordable satellites and reduced launch costs in low Earth orbit, MBRYONICS envisioned a groundbreaking architecture. This approach focuses on leveraging optical interconnectivity between satellites to establish a continuous, high-bandwidth data flow from space to Earth. The ambition is to drastically reduce the cost of data transmission, and to achieve this, the company is actively developing a comprehensive technology stack specifically designed to address this challenge.

MBRYONICS needed to develop a complex set of technologies, combining different fields like photonics, optics, specialised manufacturing, and semiconductor technology, all done in-house.

“We had to bring together many difficult areas of expertise and create entirely new ways of manufacturing. This technological innovation is a key part of our success. But technology alone isn't enough. Our other 'secret sauce' is our amazing team. We've been fortunate to build a world-class group of people.”

A world-class team in Ireland

MBRYONICS’ team is about 100 people with plans to double the head count in 2025. A staggering 70-80% of the team has PhDs in various fields. John tells us that Ireland’s notable heritage in photonics, optics, and the semiconductor sector has served as an advantage to attract a highly skilled and experienced workforce. The team also has professionals from other countries such as the US, Australia, Germany, Netherlands, and the UK. 

“MBRYONICS is the largest space company in Ireland – something that we're very proud of, to be a tip of the spear within our country. Last year, we supported the establishment of the Irish Space Association because there is a growing cluster of space companies in Ireland, and they need a representative body.”

The scale-up celebrated 10 years in 2024 and has been primarily bootstrapped for that period: “We grew organically.”

Interestingly, MBRYONICS is a family-founded company. John’s siblings, Ruth and David Mackey, are the Chief Science Officer and Chief Technical Officer, respectively. Both have researched adaptive optics for Satellite Laser Communications, earning their PhDs in the field. John’s background in business and economics means his responsibility since day one was to find a way to deliver a strategy to enable the company’s growth.

“At that time, not many people were talking about huge networks of satellites in low Earth orbit, but we knew from our research that this technology would be needed. We had a big vision to help the space industry grow in Ireland and believed we could do something special. So, we started the company,” says John.

The company was lucky to secure local grant support, which allowed the new team to visit industry companies and learn how they operate. 

John elaborates: “That time was significant for us to learn about the space industry, what people needed, and how the technology would be used. We found a kind of 'chicken and egg' problem: to make ground-based laser systems work well, you needed a lot of lasers already in space, and the technology needed to get much better at sending more data.”

He shares that around 2015, the company changed its focus to building the laser systems that would go into space: “We've now achieved that, and our product, called StarCom, which is our optical communications terminal product line, will be ready to launch both physically and commercially in 2026.”    
              

A space marathon

Asked to share MBRYONICS’ challenges, John says that, being a deep tech startup, the journey to success is always lengthy: 

“It’s not a two- or three-year sprint. It’s a marathon.” 

He says that while some may think otherwise, building the company in Ireland has been a great privilege. John emphasises the role of Enterprise Ireland in the company’s journey: 

“They have been a crucial interface for connecting with organisations like the European Space Agency. Our wonderful partnerships with the Agency over the last decade have been instrumental in delivering our technology.”

MBRYONICS’ technology is also viewed from the perspective of the defense industry. The scale-up is the prime contractor with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). “DARPA was looking for technology to build an internet in space. We competed with other companies and won, so our StarCom technology was chosen for their project,” John explains and adds that he also worked in setting up the Irish Defense and Security Association “to shine a spotlight on Ireland's industrial base in defense and dual use technologies.”

MBRYONICS looks forward to launching StarCom in the market in 2026. John emphasises its relevance within Europe, noting that the European Commission is developing its independent space-based broadband system and a secure communication system for governments covering Europe, North Africa, and North America: “Satellite optical communications are crucial for these systems, and MBRYONICS hopes to play a significant role in providing this technology for the entire European project," John adds.

Scaling up with EIC support

In 2024, MBRYONICS was approved for a recommended investment of €17.5 million from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator – € 2.5 million grant and €15 million in equity. 

Then MBRYONICS was selected to join the EIC Scaling Club, which was a tremendous success for the company. 

“When you're a deep tech company, it's wonderful to have peers that understand the journey and what it's like to go through it, particularly in the European context. The fact that there are other space technology companies in the Scaling Club is just fantastic. Plus, it shines a light on the European space sector.” 

Asked to share their plans, John mentions the StarCom launch and adds that the company will focus on the ground segment to facilitate end-to-end satellite optical transport, essentially connecting the space-based internet with the ground-based internet. “We aim to see StarCom on every satellite requiring optical interconnectivity, and with tens of thousands of launches projected. We're scaling our manufacturing to meet that demand,” John tells us and adds that the company will be investing in that over the next year and we could expect some exciting news from MBRYONICS soon.

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.

Subscribe to our newsletter here to stay up-to-date!