> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.therecursive.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Estonia's Golbriak Space Raises €4M to Scale Laser Communications for Satellites
- URL: https://www.therecursive.com/estonias-golbriak-space-raises-eur4m-to-scale-laser-communications-for-satellites/
- Published: 2026-10-08T10:00:55.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-08T10:00:54.000Z
- Description: The Tallinn-based spacetech, eight years in the making, raised a €4M seed co-led by Join Capital and PhotonVentures to scale manufacturing of its in-house laser communication terminals for satellites and airborne platforms, already shipping to paying customers.
- Author: The Recursive
- Tags: CEE, Deals, Golbriak Space

👯 **Founder(s):** Nicola Garzaniti (Founder & CEO) and Simone Briatore (Co-founder & CTO) 

📅 **Founding year:** 2017 

🏭 **Industry:** Spacetech / deep-tech hardware

💥 **Problem:** The radio-frequency spectrum is congested, and laser communication terminals have been hard to manufacture economically at scale and difficult for customers to integrate and operate.

📣 **Solution:** Laser communication terminals built on a common, software-defined architecture that reduce reliance on the host platform's pointing, ease integration, and let multiple terminals run on one spacecraft or aircraft. They have two products: **ERMESAI+** (space) and **ARES** (airborne/drones).

👥 **Customers:** Satellite operators and constellation builders planning next-generation networks (paying customers from day one; names not disclosed); airborne/high-altitude platform operators. In advanced talks for programs involving several thousand systems.

🎳 **Team size:** 2-10

🌱 **Stage:** Seed (first external/institutional round)

💰 **Investment amount:** €4M ($4.5M)

🚀 **Funded by:** Join Capital and PhotonVentures (co-leads), with participation from Takeoff (the aerospace/advanced-hardware accelerator in the CDP Venture Capital National Accelerator Network, managed by Plug and Play).

👁️‍🗨️ **Investor's perspective:**

> *"Golbriak already has functioning technology, paying customers and clear demand from operators."*

—Jan Borgstädt, Founding Partner at Join Capital.

💡 **It will be spent on:** Accelerating development and industrialization of the Estonian subsidiary, expanding production capacity, scaling manufacturing/assembly to meet customer volumes, moving into the new Tallinn (Mustamäe) lab and office, and recruiting.

💬 **In their own words:**

*"Closing this round marks a turning point for Golbriak,"* commentedNicola Garzaniti, CEO. He added the pipeline is *"ready and validated, it's just a matter of scaling."* Simone Briatore, CTO, noted that investors need to understand the long timelines involved in bringing space missions to market.

💪 **Their specialty:** Fully in-house design of the optical, electronic, mechanical and software elements on one software-defined platform — hardware reconfigurable in software for different networks/standards (SDA, ESTOL, CCSDS). Only semiconductors are sourced externally. Production-ready systems from 2.5 Gbps, with a 10 Gbps system planned for 2027\. Scaling from double-digit terminals/year today toward a target of 200/month (long-term 300–400).

🔑 **Business model:** Designs and manufactures laser communication terminals sold to satellite/constellation operators and airborne platform operators; customer-funded deployments across commercial space programs expanding its footprint from 2027\. 

💸 **Funding so far:** \~€4M ($4.5M)