Spherical Systems, a start-up currently incubated at ESA BIC Noordwijk, has raised 1 million euros pre-seed round. This milestone will enable the company to produce its first chips designed for the extreme conditions in space.
The team at Spherical Systems is using emerging techniques in the semiconductor industry to design systems at the microchip level for optimised satellite systems. Based at ESA BIC Noordwijk during ESA’s business incubation programme (with support from ESA and the Netherlands Space Office), the company was established in 2022 and is headed-up by the co-founders Thomas Parry (CEO) and Bastiaan Bom (CCO). Realising that the old approach to chip design is not tenable to advance the space market, the engineers at Spherical opt for optimal performance through their satellite-on-a-chip technology.
Innovating for space systems means delivering chips that can endure the conditions of outer space, while delivering a tool that fulfils customer needs. The team’s approach uses a smart architecture and a modern design vision to produce the highest performing chip for the satellite industry – with systems that are small, reliable and highly software configurable. Spherical’s initial target market are those customers having requirements to go beyond low Earth orbits into higher orbits, where radiation is more of a concern. This gives their systems and circuits a competitive advantage as they will be resilient under high radiation conditions.
First product on the horizon
The company was formed to exploit the window of opportunity in market and technological trends that make this the perfect time to bring the start-up’s innovations to the market. Having recently announced investment that closes the pre-seed round at 1 million euros, the team’s focus now is to concentrate on the core technology and launch its product.
“The financing allows us to fully fund the initial journey of our product development and team growth – and to demonstrate the technical and commercial relevance of Spherical on the world stage,” comments Thomas Parry. “We want to outline that our solution provides unbeatable technical performance in size, weight, reliability and software control.”
With plans to have the first chips manufactured over the coming months, the next major milestone will be working towards an initial launch of Spherical’s first product for satellite power management. Follow the company’s journey at spherical-systems.com and via LinkedIn.
