The Munich-based company has filed for insolvency at the Munich District Court on october 16th. The German start-up was planning to launch a constellation of satellites to provide broadband connectivity services mostly to the automotive sector. Backed by the German industry (OHB, Isar Aerospace, Reflex Aerospace and Mynaric) as well as SES from Luxemburg, the company raised 2.5M€ end of 2023. However, the company did not succeed to be part of the IRIS2 project and is. now facing cash issues. UNIO is now seeking fresh money to keep going.
This news demonstrates again that space is difficult and that large and ambitious projects such as UNIO are even tougher. The current economic context is not helping either but there are evidently too many broadband constellation projects. WIth Starlink leading, Kuiper soon coming up, Rivada in the works with a different approach, IRIS2 finally starting and many Chinese endeavours in preparation, it will be difficult to find the right positioning.