Spire in 2017 committed to opening a European headquarters in Luxembourg and develop activities in the areas of space platform engineering, data analytics, infrastructure engineering and business development. In return, the government pledged to invest €70m via the Luxembourg Future Fund, with further possibilities for funding through its space programme and other research and development grants.

The new missions include operating cubesat satellites--a type of miniature satellite used in space research--to detect space debris and to collect Earth observation data. Spire should also explore inter-satellite links to deliver data fast to the end-user.

Founded in 2012 in the US, Spire counts 250 employees across six sites, which also include Boulder (Colorado), San Francisco and Washington, DC, Glasgow and Singapore. Just over 50 people work at its Luxembourg office.

Spire was one of the companies attracted to Luxembourg by former economy minister Etienne Schneider as part of the space resources initiative launched in 2016. Schneider’s successor, Franz Fayot, in April visited Spire and met with CEO Peter Platzer.

The company in March announced it would be going public on the New York Stock Exchange later this year thanks to a merger with special acquisitions company NavSight.

This story was first published in French on Paperjam. It has been translated and edited for Delano.