From day three of World Space Business Week in Paris, Torsten Kriening speaks with Fredrik Gustavsson, Chief Financial and Chief Strategy Officer of SWISSto12, one of the fastest-rising companies in the European space ecosystem.
The conversation opens with news announced earlier in the week: a memorandum of understanding with Mitsubishi Electric to jointly explore opportunities in Japan and the wider region, bringing SWISSto12’s 3D-printed technology and advanced payload capabilities to bear. Alongside it, the company announced a deal to supply payloads for the Japanese Ministry of Defense together with Mitsubishi Electric. Asked why Japan, at a time when Europe’s own space programmes are expanding rapidly, Gustavsson explains that while SWISSto12 is active in European opportunities, it also sees strong demand elsewhere – building on an earlier agreement in Japan with Space Compass for the company’s HummingSat small geostationary satellite.
Europe nonetheless remains central. Gustavsson highlights work with HPS in Germany on a large unfurlable reflector for a geostationary satellite designed to broadcast TV directly to unmodified smartphones – another direct-to-device opportunity with significant growth potential.
The financial picture is striking in a sector where the gap between available capital and actual returns was a recurring theme of the week. SWISSto12, Gustavsson says, is on track to deliver around 200 million in revenue this year while being profitable, a result of a deliberate focus on profitable growth. He sees strong momentum around sovereign demand, as well as commercial opportunities arising from the integration of terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks, as space becomes increasingly embedded in overall communications infrastructure.
At the heart of the business is its core technology: 3D printing of antennas, filters and payload components, backed by proprietary know-how and patents. This enables smaller form factors with high throughput, preserving cost per bit and opening new use cases. SWISSto12 offers these payloads for third-party platforms in any orbit – LEO, MEO or GEO – as well as on its own HummingSat platform where geostationary is the best fit. Combined with speed to market, with satellites now built in three years and moving toward two, it is a formula designed to unlock business cases others cannot. Headquartered near Lausanne, with offices in Madrid and Foster City, the company is also exploring how to extend its footprint as traction grows internationally.
