Marble Imaging lands €6M from Cherry to scale Europe's sovereign satellite imagery
What's the deal? Marble Imaging, a Bremen-based startup building a commercial Earth-observation constellation, has raised €6 million led by Cherry Ventures. The round is a second close on its seed, which now totals €11.3 million after a €5.3 million close led by High-Tech Gründerfonds in December 2025.
By the numbers: Including a €650,000 pre-seed in May 2024, Marble has raised around €12 million in equity, plus more than €10 million in non-dilutive funding from DLR and the European Space AgencyDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. That seed scale places it in the 92nd percentile of all-time seed rounds for space startups in Germany.
What's the endgame? Founded in 2022, Marble sells very high-resolution imagery for security and commercial intelligence. It argues Europe and its partners rely on non-European providers, which limits access to key conflict areas.
Marble says it is building Germany's first commercial VHR satellite constellation. Its first satellite, nicknamed Morgana, will capture sub-metre images and ships to California in December for a launch planned for February 2027. The company aims for 30 satellites by 2030.
Why now? Co-founder Robert Hook told Tech Funding News that rising demand drove the round: "We wanted to ride that wave of momentum and grow our constellation as quickly as possible, and that requires capital." Marble reports more than 10 customers and a contract pipeline exceeding €20 million.
What could go wrong? Marble will launch on SpaceX, a US provider — a qualification to the "sovereign" framing. "The launch opportunities from Europe are very limited," Hook said, noting Europe had fewer than 10 orbital launches in 2025.
The company has bought eight launch vehicles from HyImpulse, the German rocket maker that raised over €50 million in September 2026, as a path to European launches. But HyImpulse's SL1 orbital rocket has not yet flown.
The signal: European demand for sovereign space-based intelligence is building fast — Finland's ICEYE raised €450 million in June at a valuation above €10 billion. Marble is far earlier-stage, and its significance will hinge on executing its first launch and turning its pipeline into revenue.
Read more: Tech Funding News
Image credit: Marble Imaging