The pitch sounds almost too audacious for a pre-seed startup: harvest sunlight in orbit, beam it back to Earth, and deliver clean energy to remote corners of the planet. Yet TerraSpark, a Luxembourg venture founded by three entrepreneurs who've already built significant careers elsewhere, just persuaded a clutch of European investors to back exactly that vision.
The company disclosed in late March that it had raised over €5 million, led by Paris venture firm daphni. The syndicate includes better ventures angel alliance, Vienna's Hans(wo)men Group family office, Luxembourg Business Angel Network, Karaoke Club, and 30 strategic angels who presumably see something more tangible than orbital daydreaming.
It's a sizable haul for deeptech at this stage, particularly in Europe where investors often tread cautiously around capital-intensive moonshots. But space-based solar power—once dismissed as perpetually decades away—has quietly attracted serious money over the past couple of years. Perhaps the question isn't whether someone will crack the economics, but who gets there first.
The Team Brings Unusual Credentials
TerraSpark emerged in 2025, founded by a trio whose résumés suggest they're not merely chasing hype. Dr. Sanjay Vijendran, now CTO, previously ran SOLARIS, the European Space Agency's own space-based solar power research program. That's the kind of technical pedigree that turns heads in investor meetings.
CEO Jasper Deprez comes from a different world—he built Tradler, an HR engagement SaaS company in Barcelona, giving him startup scar tissue and presumably some insight into scaling software businesses (though admittedly, satellites aren't exactly SaaS). COO Matthias Laug rounds out the leadership as a co-founder of TIER Mobility and former CTO at Takeaway.com, bringing operational weight to a team that could easily skew too academic.
They've assembled what LinkedIn suggests is a team ranging between 11 and 50 employees. The Luxembourg base isn't accidental. The country has been methodically expanding its ESA commitments and operates the LuxIMPULSE national space program—a strategic bet that space infrastructure will become economically meaningful within the next decade.
Radio Waves, Not Lasers
Where TerraSpark diverges from some competitors is in its transmission method. The company is betting on radio-frequency wireless power transmission instead of optical or laser-based approaches. They frame RF as satisfying "eight non-negotiable criteria"—safety, weather penetration, scalability, regulatory readiness among them—though skeptics might note that every startup claims its chosen path uniquely solves the hardest problems.
The strategy, at least, appears grounded rather than grandiose. TerraSpark isn't promising a massive geostationary constellation right out of the gate. Instead, the team talks about identifying "the smallest commercially viable SBSP system we can build that's scalable, investable, and capable of delivering real power early." Initial targets include remote industrial operations, island nations without grid access, and disaster response scenarios—markets where premium pricing might offset the inevitable early-stage cost disadvantages.
Longer-term, continuous global coverage remains the ambition. But that's a conversation for future funding rounds.
A Flight Booked for Early 2027
TerraSpark has secured a slot aboard Dcubed's ARAQYS-D3 mission, with a launch window targeting early 2027. The German company's flight will demonstrate both optical and RF power beaming technologies alongside in-space solar manufacturing at what's described as multi-kilowatt scale. TerraSpark will share the manifest with ORiS Space and Volta Space Technologies, fellow power beaming ventures.
Company communications confirm the flight booking, though full technical specifications remain undisclosed—standard practice for startups navigating competitive dynamics and partner NDAs.
A Sector Suddenly Less Lonely
TerraSork isn't operating in isolation anymore. The competitive landscape has thickened noticeably. US-based Aetherflux pulled in a $50 million Series A in April 2025 and launched its first demonstration mission in 2026. Reflect Orbital secured $6.5 million in seed funding back in 2024, pursuing a sunlight reflection model. UK venture Space Solar continues targeting commercial deployments in the early 2030s, though timelines in this sector tend to stretch.
The pre-seed size here is worth noting. Over €5 million for a European deeptech company at this stage signals something—either unusually strong founder credibility or a genuine shift in investor willingness to stomach long development cycles. Lead backer daphni recently closed its Blue fund at €260 million in January 2026, focused specifically on science and climate tech at early stages. That's capital actively seeking ambitious bets.
The Long Road Ahead
TerraSpark will funnel the fresh capital toward ground demonstrations of RF power beaming ahead of the 2027 orbital test. They're expanding the Luxembourg team and mapping what they describe as a step-by-step commercialization path: prove economics at smaller scales first, then expand methodically rather than betting everything on a single massive deployment.
Whether any of this actually pencils out commercially remains genuinely uncertain. Space-based solar has tantalized engineers and investors for decades without reaching economic viability. Infrastructure costs remain brutal, regulatory frameworks are nascent, and terrestrial renewables keep getting cheaper.
But TerraSpark has secured enough runway—and perhaps more importantly, the right combination of technical expertise and operational experience—to take a serious swing at the problem. Sometimes that's all you can ask for at the pre-seed stage.
