As a team, we’re constantly evolving our perspective on where meaningful innovation is happening and we try to place bets on where the next generation of infrastructure is quietly taking shape. While we’ve traditionally focused on software solutions, this marks our first investment in space tech infrastructure.
With our investment in Look Up alongside our friends at ETF Partners and the European Innovation Council (EIC), we’re entering a domain that’s no longer just about exploration but about crafting systems that will support safety, sovereignty and sustainability in orbit.
The space industry is undergoing a profound transformation. What was once the domain of state agencies and scientific missions is now a fast growing commercial ecosystem. With over 10,000 active satellites in orbit and tens of thousands more planned in the coming years, particularly in Low Earth Orbit, we are rapidly crowding orbital zones that are critical to navigation, communication, defense, and scientific progress.
The problem is urgent: space debris is growing at an unsustainable pace and Earth’s orbital environment is a finite resource. LEO is experiencing the highest concentration of satellite activity, leading to exponential increases in collision risk, congestion, and security threats. Even without additional launches, debris continues to multiply due to fragmentation events, raising the risk of Kessler syndrome, where cascading collisions could eventually make certain orbits unusable. However, current systems for tracking and managing space traffic remain limited, fragmented, and overly dependent on a few players.
This challenge is not just technical, it’s geopolitical. Space has become a matter of strategic autonomy and national interest, not only scientific or commercial advancement. As emphasized by Commissioner Andrius Kubilius at the 17th European Space Conference (January 2025), ensuring the EU’s strategic autonomy in space is now a top priority.
That’s why we believe this moment calls for trusted, sovereign, and commercially viable Space Surveillance and Tracking (SST) capabilities and that is precisely what Look Up is building.
Led by Juan Carlos Dolado, the former Head of Space Situational Awareness at CNES and Michel Friedling (Gen. R.), France’s first Space Commander, Look Up is building a sovereign, European-led space situational awareness platform based on ground-based radar systems, designed to:
This isn’t just about preventing collisions, it’s about building the air traffic control system for space.
Look Up is part of a growing ecosystem of technical solutions tackling the space debris problem from multiple angles. Some are pursuing complementary approaches, such as:
We believe these efforts are crucial. Look Up is not competing with them, it’s building a radar-first layer that can help unify, contextualize, and enrich all this data within a comprehensive, real-time situational awareness platform.
What convinced us further to invest wasn’t just the scale of the opportunity. It was also the founders’ clarity of vision and the strength of their early founding team. They’ve brought together a wider team of seasoned veterans of Europe’s most trusted aerospace and defense institutions like the CNES and Airbus Defence and Space.
This is a team that not only understands how to build complex, mission-critical systems but also how to navigate the institutional landscape that surrounds them. From day one, Look Up has been designed to operate at the intersection of sovereignty, security and deep tech.
They’re not just responding to the future of space infrastructure, they’re helping define what the architecture would look like in the near horizon.
We’re drawn to founders tackling complex, long-range problems with focus and commitment. And with Look Up, we’re making a long-term bet on:
Look Up is just getting started but their radar stack is in motion, partnerships are forming, and early pilots are underway. As investors, we’re here to support their scale, both technically and commercially, across Europe and beyond.
As Leadwind, Kfund’s early-growth fund, we’re proud to join them on this mission, and we look forward to working alongside others who believe that space deserves infrastructure, not just inspiration.
To the Look Up team: Welcome to the Kfund family!
As a team, we’re constantly evolving our perspective on where meaningful innovation is happening and we try to place bets on where the next generation of infrastructure is quietly taking shape. While we’ve traditionally focused on software solutions, this marks our first investment in space tech infrastructure.
With our investment in Look Up alongside our friends at ETF Partners and the European Innovation Council (EIC), we’re entering a domain that’s no longer just about exploration but about crafting systems that will support safety, sovereignty and sustainability in orbit.
The space industry is undergoing a profound transformation. What was once the domain of state agencies and scientific missions is now a fast growing commercial ecosystem. With over 10,000 active satellites in orbit and tens of thousands more planned in the coming years, particularly in Low Earth Orbit, we are rapidly crowding orbital zones that are critical to navigation, communication, defense, and scientific progress.
The problem is urgent: space debris is growing at an unsustainable pace and Earth’s orbital environment is a finite resource. LEO is experiencing the highest concentration of satellite activity, leading to exponential increases in collision risk, congestion, and security threats. Even without additional launches, debris continues to multiply due to fragmentation events, raising the risk of Kessler syndrome, where cascading collisions could eventually make certain orbits unusable. However, current systems for tracking and managing space traffic remain limited, fragmented, and overly dependent on a few players.
This challenge is not just technical, it’s geopolitical. Space has become a matter of strategic autonomy and national interest, not only scientific or commercial advancement. As emphasized by Commissioner Andrius Kubilius at the 17th European Space Conference (January 2025), ensuring the EU’s strategic autonomy in space is now a top priority.
That’s why we believe this moment calls for trusted, sovereign, and commercially viable Space Surveillance and Tracking (SST) capabilities and that is precisely what Look Up is building.
Led by Juan Carlos Dolado, the former Head of Space Situational Awareness at CNES and Michel Friedling (Gen. R.), France’s first Space Commander, Look Up is building a sovereign, European-led space situational awareness platform based on ground-based radar systems, designed to:
This isn’t just about preventing collisions, it’s about building the air traffic control system for space.
Look Up is part of a growing ecosystem of technical solutions tackling the space debris problem from multiple angles. Some are pursuing complementary approaches, such as:
We believe these efforts are crucial. Look Up is not competing with them, it’s building a radar-first layer that can help unify, contextualize, and enrich all this data within a comprehensive, real-time situational awareness platform.
What convinced us further to invest wasn’t just the scale of the opportunity. It was also the founders’ clarity of vision and the strength of their early founding team. They’ve brought together a wider team of seasoned veterans of Europe’s most trusted aerospace and defense institutions like the CNES and Airbus Defence and Space.
This is a team that not only understands how to build complex, mission-critical systems but also how to navigate the institutional landscape that surrounds them. From day one, Look Up has been designed to operate at the intersection of sovereignty, security and deep tech.
They’re not just responding to the future of space infrastructure, they’re helping define what the architecture would look like in the near horizon.
We’re drawn to founders tackling complex, long-range problems with focus and commitment. And with Look Up, we’re making a long-term bet on:
Look Up is just getting started but their radar stack is in motion, partnerships are forming, and early pilots are underway. As investors, we’re here to support their scale, both technically and commercially, across Europe and beyond.
As Leadwind, Kfund’s early-growth fund, we’re proud to join them on this mission, and we look forward to working alongside others who believe that space deserves infrastructure, not just inspiration.
To the Look Up team: Welcome to the Kfund family!
