There are hardly any rock stars left in the startup world who were born in a garage. Endurosat, which celebrates its tenth anniversary next year, is almost one of them: it was founded in an attic. With a vision of democratising access to space by building very small satellites, Bulgarian Raycho Raychev has built a success story.

At the end of the summer, the entrepreneur, selected as a member of the second cohort of the New Space advisory board to the director general of the European Space Agency, raised a further €10m. Half came from the Bulgarian venture capital firm Odacio Corp and half from Philippe Barthelemy’s Seet Investment.

The 30-year-old in October received Nasa administrator Bill Nelson, accompanied by US ambassador Kenneth Merten, at the Endurosat space centre in Sofia. The visit aimed to contribute to deeper cooperation and international space partnerships, with Romania and Bulgaria having recently signed the Artemis agreements, joining a growing list of nations--including Luxembourg--committed to peaceful space exploration and scientific collaboration.

Today, it has more than 250 customers and 200 engineers. Its advisory board includes two well-known personalities: the former director of the European Space Agency, Johann-Dietrich Wörner, and the American Pit Worden, who was one of former economy minister ’s (LSAP) special advisers when the Luxembourg initiative was launched in 2018. Endurosat’s activities in Luxembourg are currently limited to holding activities.

This article was originally published in .