The funding, from SME credit firm Caple, will be directed in two phases to various parts of the business that form the consortium.
The first, worth £2.6 million, will allow Celestia’s British operation to develop a new satellite ground station in the UK for a European Space Agency project. The second, directed to the Netherlands-based business, will to partly finance the acquisition of the satellite ground systems division of Antwerp Space Systems in Belgium, worth £880,000. Celestia said the acquisition of this division will expand its “existing expertise in ground satellite systems and expand its international presence”.
Jose Alonso, founder and group chair of Celestia Technologies, said: “We are very grateful to Caple for the trust placed in us. It takes guts to stick your neck out where traditional parties fail to do so. With this financing and loan, we look to the future with confidence."
Dominic Buch, co-founder and managing partner of Caple, said: “Celestia is an ambitious and growing international high-tech business. As a collection of SMEs based across Europe, the group needed a sophisticated cross-border loan to help it support UK growth and acquire a Belgium operation.
“Working closely with KPMG Debt Advisory, we have now twice helped the firm access long-term fully unsecured loans that are not ordinarily available to SMEs. Our unsecured lending deals demonstrate how we can support successful SMEs with finance to support growth across borders despite Brexit.”
