The success of a start-up’s fundraising efforts does not depend solely on the project’s innovation; trust between partners and the protection of strategic information are crucial to attracting investment.
The event, aimed at entrepreneurs from the Business Factory Aero (BFAero), focused on two key areas: partnership agreements and business confidentiality, and provided an opportunity to examine how these mechanisms strengthen relationships with investors and protect sensitive information relating to their projects.
The session was led by Ana Lorente Berges, co-founder of A2 Estudio Legal, who explained the importance of establishing clear agreements between partners and mechanisms to protect each start-up’s strategic assets.
Attendees explored how these tools not only prevent conflicts but also instil confidence in investors, a key factor in driving innovative projects forward.
Confidence to secure investment
In an ecosystem where public and private investment seeks out start-ups with growth potential, having a solid legal foundation becomes a decisive factor.
Through these initiatives, BFAero provides entrepreneurs with practical tools to navigate investment processes and consolidate their projects in the aeronautical and aerospace sector.
Entrepreneurship does not depend solely on private investment. Public funding is a key route to growth for any start-up, particularly for those developing innovative projects with high potential.
However, accessing this type of support requires knowing where to find the relevant calls for applications and what the funding bodies’ requirements are.
With this aim in mind, participants in the 7th edition ofBusiness Factory Aero (BFAero) explored these issues in depth during the first part of the programme’s final in-person session, held on 26 February.
Key points for accessing public funds
The session was led by Iliyana Zongova, an expert in European funds and projects at NTT DATA, who provided project leaders with a practical insight into how public funding works.
During the event, entrepreneurs were able to learn more about:
The types of initiatives that typically receive support through public funds.
Who is eligible to apply for this type of funding.
Where to find information on funding opportunities.
How to prepare suitable proposals to apply for this funding.
The session enabled participants to better understand how to structure their projects and access new funding channels that can help accelerate their development.
The role of institutional support in business development
Sessions such as this highlight the importance of institutional support in driving and revitalising the business sector, particularly in strategic sectors such as the aeronautical and aerospace industries.
Through training initiatives such as this, BFAero continues to support the start-ups in its ecosystem by helping them build their capabilities and identify opportunities to drive their growth.
Business Factory Aero participated in Invertir en Ciencia SÍ es Rentable, a strategic meeting of scientists, investors and technology-based companies held in Santiago de Compostela, to showcase examples of accelerated companies that reinforce the slogan of this fourth national meeting, organised by UNIRISCO and Xesgalicia.
The companies Vig-Sec DroneandKreios Space participated in a round table discussion to share their experiences on the value of the Business Factory model as a lever for promoting entrepreneurship and science in the service of strategic sectors, moderated by IGAPE.
Along these lines, Noelia Gil, director of operations and co-founder of Vig Sec-Drone, explained the added value of ‘connecting with the Galician ecosystem because it opened many doors for us.’ She also acknowledged that ‘the experts we had access to helped us position ourselves in the market.’
For his part, Jan Mataró, CTO and founder of Kreios Space, explained how they decided to move the company from Catalonia to Galicia: ‘We needed a vacuum chamber to carry out some tests and, thanks to BFAero, we had the support of the Xunta de Galicia through IGAPE and we ended up getting the project off the ground.’ Having a favourable environment of public support, investors and a strong ecosystem encouraged the company to make the move. ‘Initially, eight of us moved, and now there are more than 25 of us.’
Alongside the start-ups, more than 50 speakers analysed investment in deep tech technologies as a driver of economic transformation and social impact, and the need for private capital to boost competitiveness, technological sovereignty and sustainable growth.
Patient investment
During this event, the role of public and private investors was also analysed, as well as the need for investment in science and technology-based companies to be approached as a patient investment.
Vig Sec-Drone and Kreios Space are examples of entrepreneurs with disruptive technology that has generated interest among public and private investors. At the end of 2025, Vig Sec-Drone closed a €1 million investment round to accelerate its growth and consolidate its technology. The round was led by Encomenda Capital Partners SGEIC and included the participation of Lugo Transforma, XesGalicia and Vigo Activo Sociedad de Capital Riesgo.
For its part, Kreios Space closed an €8 million seed investment round led by NATO Innovation Fund and Join Capital, making it the largest European funding round for VLEO technologies. The operation was also backed by other investors, including Xesgalicia, Grow Venture Partners, and Tasivia Global.
SLIMOP Space will take its optical technology into space in 2027, consolidating its technological roadmap, its positioning in the sector and the growth of the start-up. SLIMOP joined the Business Factory Aero (BFAero) in 2025 during the sixth edition of the programme and has been selected for the seventh edition, within the Consolidation phase.
The company is dedicated to developing pioneering Orbital Telescopes for small satellites and nanosatellites, based on its own architecture of high-precision, low-weight optical mirrors. This innovative technology speeds up manufacturing processes, significantly reduces the weight and cost of optical systems, and facilitates their integration into scalable space platforms, with particular applications in Earth observation and space optical communications.
During 2025, SLIMOP Space has registered three technology patents, with a fourth in preparation, and has validated ultralight mirror subsystems in the laboratory at TRL5 level, a milestone that reinforces the maturity of its solution and its capacity for future demonstrations in orbit.
SLIMOP Space’s growth has been made possible thanks to the first round of pre-seed funding completed in 2025, in which the company brought in private investors specialising in the aerospace sector, who also contribute strategic management expertise. This private funding has been complemented by the support of various European, national and regional public bodies and programmes, including the European Space Agency (ESA), through the ESA BIC Barcelona programme, the Ministry of Industry and Tourism through ENISA, the Generalitat de Catalunya through ACCIÓ and the Startup Capital programme, as well as the Xunta de Galicia, with the support of GAIN, IGAPE and XesGalicia, in addition to the Business Factory Aero (BFAero) programme itself as an initiative to promote consolidated projects in the aerospace sector.
In total, more than €700,000 in capital resources have driven this first phase of R&D since the company was founded three years ago. SLIMOP Space is currently immersed in the preparation and closing of a new seed round that will enable it to consolidate its strategic plan for the period 2026-2028 and consolidate the technical specifications necessary for its leap into space.
BFAero: driving aerospace innovation
SLIMOP Space is embarking on this new phase with the aim of positioning itself as a benchmark in advanced optical solutions for space platforms, contributing to the development of efficient and competitive constellations in global markets. Its participation in BFAero and the solid institutional support it has received highlight not only the quality of the project, but also the role of the accelerator as key platform for promoting technology start-ups in strategic sectors with high technological demands.
The ultimate goal of any startup is to scale its business and sell. For this reason, Business Factory Aero (BFAero) promoted the participation of the projects from its sixth edition in the session “Mastering Sales: strategies to impact, connect and close deals”, held at the Santander Work Café in A Coruña.
A meeting designed to strengthen the commercial capabilities of companies at key stages of growth through practical, strategic and results-oriented training for the projects that are part of our ecosystem.
Practical training to turn innovation into business
During the session, high-value tools were presented that are applicable beyond the technological sphere, with a clear focus: building confidence, connecting with customers and closing deals.
During the workshop, key aspects were addressed such as:
Moving from uncertainty to confidence at any stage of the business.
Identifying customer archetypes to fine-tune the commercial approach.
The art of storytelling: how to turn a product or service into a memorable story.
The anatomy of the perfect email: structures that work and generate responses.
Strategies to tackle decisive meetings and move towards closing sales.
All of them share a common goal: to strengthen their value proposition and accelerate their market entry with a solid and effective sales strategy.
Aguia Analítica Avanzada strengthens its growth through a strategic alliance
Within the framework of this commitment to business development, one of the participating companies, Aguia Analítica Avanzada, has taken a significant step by establishing a strategic alliance with FEDS Drone-powered Solutions.
This agreement will help drive the digitalisation of public infrastructure, moving from reactive maintenance towards a predictive, efficient and data-driven model. The collaboration combines aerial data, artificial intelligence and international standards to create digital twins of road networks, improve accuracy in damage detection and increase the safety and fluidity of infrastructures.
A clear example of how training, sales strategy and the right partnerships accelerate the transformation of innovation into real impact.
A clear example of how training, sales strategy and the right partnerships accelerate the transformation of innovation into real impact.
BFAero: innovation, strategy and market
With initiatives such as this session, Business Factory Aero reaffirms its commitment to the holistic growth of startups, promoting not only technological development but also the key skills needed to compete, connect with the market and generate business.
Kreios Space and Vig-Sec Drone, companies incubated and accelerated at Business Factory Aero (BFAero), have been selected to take part in NATO’s DIANA accelerator, one of the most demanding and prestigious international programmes in the field of dual-use innovation, defence and security.
A milestone that reinforces BFAero’s positioning as a leading platform for boosting startups with high value-added technologies, capable of competing and collaborating within the main international innovation ecosystems in defence, security and aerospace. A further recognition of the talent, vision and capabilities of the companies that are part of BFAero to transform the present and build the future of the sector.
The DIANA accelerator (Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic) promotes technological solutions with high potential impact for the Atlantic Alliance, selecting each year a very limited number of companies from among thousands of international applications.
Vig-Sec Drone: dual-use technology for a safer airspace
The Galician company Vig-Sec Drone approaches this new stage as a decisive step in its international expansion strategy and in the validation of its dual-use technology in real operational environments.
Over the coming months, the company will work on an ambitious challenge: to demonstrate that it is possible to safely manage medium- and low-altitude airspace by integrating manned and unmanned aircraft within the same airspace, even in complex and isolated contexts.
Participation in DIANA will allow Vig-Sec Drone to collaborate in exercises, tests and validations with NATO units, specialised agencies and armed forces, taking its technology to the environment where its value is truly put to the test: real operations. This progress represents a significant leap in the company’s maturity and strengthens its commitment to innovation in the service of those operating on the front line.
Kreios Space: Very Low Earth Orbit as a new strategic domain
For its part, Kreios Space has been selected for the NATO DIANA 2026 Challenge Programme, within the Resilient Space Operations challenge.
The company is working on the development of space missions in Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO), at altitudes close to 200 kilometres, a key domain for the future of space observation and defence. Its differentiating technology, based on Air-Breathing Electric Propulsion (ABEP), makes it possible to sustain prolonged operations in these ultra-low orbits, overcoming one of the sector’s major technical challenges.
This selection recognises VLEO as a strategic reality and offers Kreios Space the opportunity to collaborate over the next six months with DIANA test centres, mentors and end users, accelerate the development of its technology with the programme’s financial support, and align it with the real needs of NATO and its allies.
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