Cailabs and the EIC Accelerator: Laser Links From Ground to Orbit
Satellites mostly send data to Earth by radio, and laser links promise far more bandwidth, if a ground station can hold a beam steady through the turbulent atmosphere. Cailabs, founded in Rennes in 2013, builds optical ground stations designed to do that.
The European Innovation Council granted €2,500,000 towards CROCUS, a €3.90 million project that ran from June 2022 to June 2024. According to the CORDIS report, it produced "2 commercial successes (OGS sold to 2 ground station operators)", Swedish Space Corporation and Contec, and a patent on turbulence correction. Cailabs raised €26 million in December 2022 and €57 million in September 2025, with the EIC Fund among the 2025 investors and selected for support in the 2022 round, and in 2026 began building a factory in Rennes for up to 50 stations a year.
Company file
- Legal entity
- Cailabs SAS, SIREN 793 861 493, Rennes
- Founded
- 19 June 2013
- CEO
- Jean-François Morizur, co-founder
- Products
- Optical ground stations, laser communication systems
- Customers named
- Swedish Space Corporation, Contec, USEI
- Investors
- EIB, EIC Fund, NewSpace Capital, Definvest, Fonds Innovation Défense, Starquest, Innovacom, Safran Corporate Venture
- EIC project
- CROCUS, 15 Jun 2022 to 14 Jun 2024, closed
Where Cailabs Stands Today
In September 2026 Cailabs said its new plant, Factory 27, a 10,000 m² site in Rennes designated one of France's strategic industrial projects, would produce up to 50 optical ground stations a year by 2028, with a similar US plant to follow. The same month it announced exploratory agreements with Eutelsat, Kepler Communications, RBC Signals and Leaf Space, a collaboration with Telesat Government Solutions and a shared-service offer for ground stations. In February 2025 the US operator USEI had chosen Cailabs stations for DiamondLink, which it called a global commercial optical service.
The record
From two ground stations sold to a factory for fifty a year
Cailabs sold its first optical ground stations during the EIC project and has since raised €83 million in two rounds including EIC Fund money.
- Jun 2013Company foundedCailabs, Rennes
- Mar 2022EIC Accelerator cut-offCROCUS: laser links from ground and air to satellites
- Jun 2022EIC project startsOptical ground stations, line-of-sight and airborne terminals€2.50M grant
- Dec 2022Funding roundNewSpace Capital leads; EIC Fund support€26M
- Jun 2024EIC project endsStations sold to Swedish Space Corporation and Contec
- Feb 2025USEI dealStations for a US commercial optical service
- Sep 2025FinancingEIB €37M debt plus €20M equity incl. EIC Fund€57M
- Sep 2026Factory 2710,000 m² plant in Rennes for 50 stations a year by 2028
Cailabs news, CORDIS and SatNews.
The Technology: Shaping Light Through Turbulence
The CORDIS report describes a new patented "turbulence mitigation scheme for the emission channel". It says the team concluded that ground stations, line-of-sight links and airborne terminals needed different designs, and that the ground stations were the most advanced; satellite tests were "delayed due to launcher delays" at the time of the report.
"Demand for optical communications is growing. Meeting it means building the necessary technology and equipment at scale."
Jean-François Morizur, CEO and founder, Cailabs, September 2026What the EIC Project Promised, and What CORDIS Shows
The EIC project
The EU paid 64% of a €3.90M project
CROCUS ran from June 2022 to June 2024. The award was blended finance.
CORDIS project 190190885. Values in € millions.
CROCUS, "Coherent Rapid Optical Communication Under the Stratosphere", aimed at laser links for ground, line-of-sight and airborne use. It delivered sold ground stations, a patent and progress towards line-of-sight prototypes; the airborne terminal was not reported as built. The report also records the December 2022 round and a new US subsidiary.
- Optical ground stationsDeliveredTwo sold by project end.
- Line-of-sight linksPrototypesExpected in 2024.
- Airborne terminalNot reportedNo result on CORDIS.
- Commercial scaleUnder way10+ stations contracted, factory building.
What Has Happened Since the Award
The scale-up
Optical ground stations sold, contracted and planned
Stations sold at the end of the EIC project, under contract in September 2025, and the planned yearly capacity of the new factory.
CORDIS report; Cailabs, September 2025 and September 2026.
The Money
The December 2022 round of €26 million was led by NewSpace Capital with Definvest, Starquest, Innovacom, Safran Corporate Venture and Crédit Agricole, and Cailabs was selected for EIC Fund support. The September 2025 financing combined €37 million of debt from the European Investment Bank with €20 million of equity from French defence funds, NewSpace Capital, the EIC Fund and others. Cailabs' recent revenue and profit are not shown in the public register summaries we checked.
The money
Public money is in every recent round
Rounds in € millions. The EIC Fund took part in both; the European Investment Bank lent €37 million in 2025. The EIC Fund's amounts were not disclosed.
Cailabs, December 2022 and September 2025.
What cannot be checked
Cailabs' revenue and losses, how many stations it has delivered as opposed to contracted, and how much the EIC Fund invested are not public.
Why Europe Should Care
French defence funds are among Cailabs' investors, and Fonds Innovation Défense called its solutions "of strategic importance for France's sovereignty in Defense and Space". The EIC grant supported the development that led to its first sales, and EU money, through the EIC Fund and the EIB, has followed it into production.
What the project promised
Coherent laser communication from ground and air to satellites.
What the record shows
Ground stations sold and contracted, €83M raised with EU backing, and a factory for 50 stations a year under construction.
The Verdict
A product, customers and a factory
According to CORDIS, CROCUS helped Cailabs turn a laboratory technique into a product it sells to satellite operators. The company has since raised large rounds and is industrialising. Its revenue is not public, so the size of the business behind the announcements cannot be checked.
Cailabs has not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on company statements, trade press and EU project data, linked throughout.
Industry
SpaceGround segment
- Focus
- Ground stations and terminals
- Technologies
- Optics
- Lasers
- Keywords
- Laser communications
- Satellite data downlink
- Atmospheric turbulence
- Defence