SpaceTech company Tumbleweed has raised €6.9 million, allegedly the largest SpaceTech Seed round ever raised in Austria, four months after the startup put the country’s first commercial satellite in orbit.
The round was led by PactVC, with participation from Vanagon Ventures, early backer Prototype Capital, and EWOR. Notably, over one-third of Tumbleweed’s 25-person team also invested personal funds.
“This funding will allow us to scale what we’ve proven on our first mission, Oasis Alpha: that microgravity can be a widely accessible industrial resource. We’re so excited to be able to bring this transformative capability to even more customers, and ultimately build a future where microgravity is used to make 10x better cures for cancer, 10x better semiconductors and 10x faster developed pharmaceuticals,” says Julian Rothenbuchner, Tumbleweed CEO and co-founder.
Tumbleweed’s funding follows a series of European SpaceTech financing announcements in 2026.
In Germany, ATMOS Space Cargo raised €25.7 million to develop orbital transport and re-entry services, while deltaVision secured €10.2 million to expand spacecraft component production.
Elsewhere, UK-based NewOrbit raised €16 million for its very-low-Earth-orbit satellite technology, and Switzerland’s Stellar Alpina secured €3.8 million for in-space propulsion systems.
In Austria, Vienna-based ENPULSION secured €22.5 million in March to expand its spacecraft propulsion business.
Together with Tumbleweed’s newly announced round, these financings amount to approximately €85.1 million.
“The fact that Austrian space technology is mobilising international private capital and is
already being used commercially in space sends an important signal about the strength of our research and business location. Companies like these strengthen domestic value creation, create skilled jobs, and demonstrate that Austria is internationally competitive in demanding future technologies,” adds Peter Hanke, Austrian Federal Minister for Innovation, Mobility and Infrastructure.
Founded in 2024, Tumbleweed sells modular payload containers (aka Pods) to labs, manufacturers and R&D teams. Pod is a modular payload container that handles power, data and certification.
The Pods are fault-isolated payload containers that arrive pre-certified and keep customer experiments powered and connected in orbit. Research groups, manufacturers and R&D teams send their payload directly to Tumbleweed, and receive data during flight. Pods come in different sizes, and mission costs start at €15k.
Oasis, their spacecraft, takes the Pods up, operates them, and brings them back to earth.
Compared to equivalent experiments conducted via the International Space Station, Tumbleweed customers reportedly ship 5x faster and 10x cheaper.
“Tumbleweed put Austria’s first commercial satellite in orbit in less time than it usually takes to certify a single experiment. Julian has done exactly what he told us he would do when we first met him, only faster. Now every lab and manufacturer can use space without becoming a space company first,” says Daniel Dippold, CEO of EWOR.
Oasis Alpha was built in nine months, five times faster than industry standard, and launched on 7 July 2026 aboard SpaceX Transporter-17 as Austria’s first commercial satellite, carrying four customers. The mission was sold out a year before launch and paid for upfront.
Today’s funding will fund three missions in 2027, carrying more than 10 customers. The capital will also accelerate development of Oasis Beta, Tumbleweed’s next-generation orbital platform scheduled for 2028, which will support larger payloads and feature re-entry capability to safely bring experimental samples back to Earth.
