Business Finland approves €28M grant for ICEYE’s R&D program

ICEYE has announced that Business Finland, Finland’s public innovation agency, has approved an EUR 28.3 million continuation grant — the final tranche of a previously announced major R&D investment decision.

Continued investment in R&D enables ICEYE to advance its next-generation synthetic aperture radar (SAR), software and AI-enabled capabilities that allied nations and governments are seeking, the Finnish company said.

The grant will accelerate major advances in ICEYE’s technology portfolio. R&D will focus on enhancing ICEYE’s sensing capabilities, data collection and AI-driven analysis. Additionally, ICEYE is collaborating with European C2 system integrators to advance multi-source data fusion.

Since 2018, the company has successfully launched 72 satellites and recently reached a production rate of one satellite per week. ICEYE is targeting an annual production capacity of 100 satellites by 2028, with 25 satellites planned for launch in 2026 and more than 50 in 2027. Sustaining this trajectory requires continued investment in R&D, production facilities and highly skilled talent.

“Business Finland’s continued support reflects ICEYE’s strong execution and the progress achieved under the R&D program,” Pekka Laurila, Co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer at ICEYE, said. “Together, we are strengthening Finnish expertise, scaling domestic R&D, and accelerating technologies that enhance national resilience, situational awareness and sovereign capabilities.”

“Business Finland supports ambitious risk‑taking and shares the risk — funding is often provided in stages. The results of the first phase of ICEYE’s large project have been achieved, and it is great to be able to move forward with the continuation funding,” Lassi Noponen, Director General at Business Finland, said. “This grant decision of €28 million is a testament both to ICEYE’s capabilities and to the position of Finnish technology development at the international forefront.”

Separately, ICEYE has secured an EUR 300 million revolving credit facility, further strengthening the company’s financial flexibility as it scales production, accelerates technology development and deploys sovereign space-based intelligence capabilities for allied nations, the company said.