While the Luxembourg ecosystem provides a lot for spacetechs, in order to scale they must expand beyond Luxembourg’s borders. Few locally-founded space tech startups have a growth story as impressive as OQ Technology’s.
Established by former SES engineer Omar Qaise in 2016, today the global satellite 5G operator has offices in five countries and recently landed its first commercial contract.
Qaise, a German national, had been working for major employers in the satellite industry for 13 years, including SES and ESA, when the newspace sector started taking off.
With the advent of cubesats, miniaturised satellites offering quicker lead times at lower cost, Qaise saw an opportunity. He said: “There were use cases that did not really need a huge, expensive satellite. It was like asking for a ride and selling them a bus. It was overkill!”
He developed dedicated products for customers requiring smaller amounts of data for IoT systems using 5G technology. It was a happy coincidence that around the same time, Luxembourg’s economy ministry launched its SpacesResources.lu economic diversification strategy, leading to the launch of the Luxembourg Space Agency in 2018.
OQ benefited from this expertise in its feasibility study, but also in landing its first grant for €233k. But these grants were not enough on their own. “Luxembourg funding is good to develop future capabilities. But it should not be the main source to fund the company,” says Qaise. In 2021, it won a competitive contract with the European Space Agency, securing €500K to develop 5G technology. It also raised €1.5M in a 2019 seed round, and in 2022 closed a €13M Series A funding round.
“My philosophy is that if you want to bring value and have business you need to be there yourself”
Omar Qaise
Since the seed round, the company has grown fivefold to a team of 20 and Qaise says there are aspirations to continue this trajectory. “We have a lot of demand from our customers, and we need to meet this demand. That’s why we are opening a convertible note round to raise more money because our investors want to launch more satellites and build infrastructure very quickly,” the founder explained.
Global presence
Today OQ is present in Luxembourg, Saudi Arabia, UAE (Dubai), Greece and Rwanda (Kigali). “These are complete companies, not just sales or one-person offices,” Qaise explains.
Expansion began in the UAE after Qaise participated in a Luxembourg delegation to the country and raised its first private investment there in 2019. He credits a collaboration with the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center and UAE space agency for their support in opening an office there.
With the African continent in his sights, Qaise found a fit when Rwanda launched its space agency in 2020. In 2022, OQ opened companies in Greece, to leverage the maritime market, university collaborations and expansion into Eastern Europe, and in Saudi Arabia (covering North Africa and ME regions). Meanwhile, Qaise does not rule out a US office.
“My philosophy is that if you want to bring value and have business you need to be there yourself,” says Qaise.
By the end of 2023, Qaise expects the global team to double in size to 40, while the target is to reach 300 by 2026.
This article was first published in the Silicon Luxembourg magazine. Get your copy.
