Female Co-Led German Space Logistics Startup ATMOS Raises Euro 13.1 million

By: GWL Team | Wednesday, 19 February 2025

German space logistics startup receives €13.1 million funding
The funding has been received by European Union’s EIC Accelerator Program

German space logistics startup ATMOS has received funding of €13.1 million from the European Union’s EIC Accelerator Program, which includes non-refundable grants and investments. The Lichtenau-based startup develops technology for returning cargo from space and with the new funding aims to strengthen its PHOENIX 2 development. ATOMOS’ total funding so far has now amounted to €18.9M. NASA’s space operations face ongoing challenges due to limited cargo return capability, impacting scientific research, station maintenance, and crew safety.

Marta Oliveira, Co-founder & COO, ATMOS said, “Receiving this funding marks a significant milestone for the entire ATMOS team, underscoring strong support for the technology we are developing. It plays a crucial role in advancing the PHOENIX 2 capsule and reinforces our commitment to making reusable space logistics a reality in the coming years.”

ATOMOS intends to utilize the new funding to further its engineering and testing capabilities to develop the startup’s next-generation PHOENIX 2 capsule.

This capital flow comes at the heels of the startup’s recent announcement about its PHOENIX 1 capsule’s first test flight on SpaceX’s upcoming Bandwagon-3 mission. This flight will fulfil two Earth orbits before trying an atmospheric re-entry.

It will also carry with it payloads from German Aerospace Center’s Institute of Aerospace Medicine (radiation detector), IDDK, a Japanese biotech firm, and Frontier Space, a UK space biotech company.

ATMOS is a space logistics startup founded in 2021 by aerospace professionals from Airbus and European Space Agency teams. The German startup is co-founded by Sebastian Klaus, Marta Oliveira, Jeffrey Hendrikse, and Christian Grimm. It is working towards developing and manufacturing technology for bringing back cargo of various sizes from space.