•Enagás, through its subsidiary Enagás Emprende, has taken part in the 14 million-euro capital increase by the Basque company SATLANTIS, a leading company in the Earth Observation market for small satellites.
•Enagás was accompanied in this investment round by SEPIDES, guaranteeing the presence of Spain’s state-owned SEPI in the principle companies in the country’s space industry.
•The round was closed with the support of ORZA, AXIS-ICO and the Diputación Foral de Bizkaia, shareholders in SATLANTIS since 2016.
Enagás has taken a stake in SATLANTIS, a company chaired by Jean-Jacques Dordain, former director general of the European Space Agency (ESA), following a 14 million-euro capital increase.
SEPIDES, a group belonging to the state-owned holding company SEPI, was also involved in this capital increase. This allows the group to strengthen its presence in the space industry, which now includes the New Space sector represented by SATLANTIS.
Also involved in the capital increase were the company’s historical partners, ORZA, AXIS-ICO and the Diputación Foral de Bizkaia, the local authority for the Basque province of Biscay.
In order to meet the needs of Enagás, SATLANTIS will provide the service for measuring methane emissions with very high accuracy (5 metres), which has never been achieved by any satellite to date.
In the words of Enagás’ executive chairman, Antonio Llardén, “We have become involved with SATLANTIS because it’s a cutting-edge technological project that will allow us to anticipate the future needs of the sector while collaborating with the European regulatory authorities to find the best emissions detection technology. At Enagás, we’re committed to becoming carbon neutral by 2040, and this initiative, driven by our subsidiary Enagás Emprende, is part of our commitment, which involves promoting innovative projects with a sustainable approach.”
According to the chairman of SEPIDES, Antonio Cervera, “The role of our group is to use capital investment to realise Spain’s great potential for international leadership, contributing to bring together both public and the private sectors. The case of SATLANTIS is a good example of how international leadership, private initiative and proximity to the public sector are combined in a business project within the field of space.”
In the opinion of Jean-Jacques Dordain, the chairman of SATLANTIS, “Since I joined the company, I’ve worked to connect the best technology with the services customers demand throughout the entire value chain. Enagás is the best example of this approach, which we will expand to the European Copernicus programme, ESA missions and the oil and gas sector.”
José Carlos García de Quevedo, chairman of the ICO group, added, “By newly taking part in this investment round, we show once again the commitment of AXIS, the group’s venture capital subsidiary, to the development of world-leading Spanish projects such as SATLANTIS and reinforces the desire of the ICO group to promote complementary financing channels that foster innovation, competitiveness and business excellence”.
According to Karmelo Sainz de la Maza, president of Elkarkidetza and partner together with GEROA, of ORZA, “Our presence in SATLANTIS since 2016 has allowed us to confirm the reliability and progress of an industrial and technological project that employs 45 young engineers, some who come from many different parts of the planet, demonstrating that the Basque Country is a competitive land that produces global champions.”
For Ainara Basurko, head of the Department of Economic Promotion for the Diputación Foral de Bizkaia, “SATLANTIS is a technology-based industrial business project with great potential for growth and job creation for Biscay. We were there when it was founded and have accompanied it from its early stages until today, now that it’s a mature project, both from a technological and activity standpoint. And we continue to do so because SATLANTIS is an innovative project that is aligned with the challenges and transitions that we also face as a land.”
“The five afore-mentioned investors play a strategic role in driving the company forward, and their trust has led us to become a company that provides satellite-based environmental solutions to meet such challenges as detecting methane emissions, plastics in the sea or fires,” says SATLANTIS CEO Juan Tomás Hernani, adding, “With the financial capacity gained from the round, we are launching SATLANTIS International, in charge of development in the USA, UK and UAE.”
