One of Luxembourg’s youngest biotech startups, Exobiosphere, has secured €2 million in seed funding to advance its microgravity drug development technology.
Founded in 2024, Exobiosphere is a contract research organization (CRO) focused on accelerating pharmaceutical R&D and reducing late-stage failures. Its Orbital High-Throughput Screener (OHTS), an autonomous and standardized lab automation platform, is designed to leverage microgravity for drug discovery.
“Space is not just the next frontier for exploration—it’s the next frontier for medicine,” said Kyle Acierno, CEO of Exobiosphere. “We’re building critical infrastructure that lowers the barrier to entry for pharma and biotech companies. This investment marks a pivotal step in making microgravity drug discovery accessible, scalable, and commercially viable.”
Scaling microgravity drug discovery
The newly secured capital will be allocated to finalising and validating the engineering of the OHTS platform on the ground and safety reviews, including a parabolic flight scheduled for May 2025. Orbital operations are targeted to commence in 2026.
Additionally, the funding will support the expansion of Exobiosphere’s engineering, bioinformatics, and business development teams, as well as the establishment of strategic partnerships and agreements with pharmaceutical and biotech firms. The firm is also planning to open another office as it scales operations.
The promise of microgravity
Microgravity conditions influence cellular behaviour in ways not possible on Earth, offering novel insights into disease progression and drug efficacy. Research areas benefiting from these conditions include, among others, neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s and cancer treatments such as chemotherapy.
Historically, microgravity experiments have been conducted on the International Space Station (ISS), but high costs and limited availability have driven demand for alternative orbital platforms. Exobiosphere’s OHTS, roughly the size of a carry-on suitcase, accommodates industry-standard well plates—miniature test tube holders used in drug screening—and is compatible with a variety of space station and free-flyer platforms.
“Space is not just the next frontier for exploration—it’s the next frontier for medicine.”
Kyle Acierno, CEO of Exobiosphere
Exobiosphere operates on a contract research model, offering customised, end-to-end experimental design, execution, and analysis services. The company has received strong interest from pharmaceutical and biotech firms, though it has not disclosed specific customers.
Acierno confirmed that the firm is working with commercial space station operators, free-flyer platform providers, and space agencies. Support from the Luxembourg government, through an ESA contract in the Luxembourg National Space Programme (LuxIMPULSE), further strengthens its position by securing flight opportunities, reducing costs for clients, and streamlining payload integration.
Strategic investment
Exobiosphere’s seed round was led by Expansion Ventures, a €200 million pan-European venture capital fund specializing in aerospace and defense investments, with Expon Capital–a Luxembourg-based firm investing in transformative technologies–as co-lead, and Space Data Inc., a Japanese company focused on real-time digital twin technology for Earth and space systems.
“We invested in Exobiosphere because they’re unlocking an entirely new dimension for biotech innovation. Their platform not only accelerates the discovery and validation of transformative therapies but also bridges critical gaps faced by pharma through microgravity-enabled insights that are simply unattainable on Earth,” said Jérôme Wittamer, Founding Partner at Expon Capital.
Following the launch of its R&D hub at the House of BioHealth Incubator in Luxembourg, Exobiosphere was also awarded a grant through LuxIMPULSE, further cementing its standing as a key player in the microgravity biotech sector.
