The low Earth orbit satellite company successfully secured €6.96m (A$11m) in capital, funding which the firm says will be used by the firm to launch their first satellite in 2019.

In an embargoed press release sent on Thursday, Kleos Space said the first satellite, known as Kleos Scouting Mission, would deliver commercially available data and “perform as a technology demonstration”.

It aims to launch 20 satellites in low Earth orbit, which would be used to locate radio transmissions from anywhere on Earth, detecting where the transmission was transmitted from, and when.

“When ships turn off their transponders at sea, our satellites can capture the ships other transmission activity from space. This other data is critical for governments, and will give them the ability to track ships used by drug and people smugglers, terrorists, pirates, illegal fishermen and those in need of search and rescue”, Kleos Space co-founder and CEO Andy Bowyer said.

With this endeavor the firm hopes to take a piece of the intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance market, estimated to be worth some €25.95 million.

GomSpace is expected to deliver the first satellite system for Kleos Space by mid-2019. “We are also in early stage discussions with a number of high profile space race contenders who have the ability to launch our satellite into orbit,” Bowyer said.

Kleos Space begins trading at 11am Sydney time (3am CET).