Start-up EnduroSat (including Peter Thiel, Google Ventures) plans Starbase Europe on former military airfield Dobroslavtsi, Bulgaria

Europe's answer to SpaceX? This is how Bulgaria plans to conquer the international satellite market

1,000 new jobs, 290 hectares: Why Bulgaria is now building Europe's largest satellite factory

Once the silent remnants of the Cold War, this site could soon be a production hub for satellites the size of modern passenger aircraft. On a military airfield near Sofia that has been disused for over 25 years, "Starbase Europe" is taking shape – one of the continent's most ambitious high-tech projects. Driven by the successful Bulgarian start-up EnduroSat and backed by global heavyweights like Peter Thiel and Google Ventures, Bulgaria is reaching for the stars again almost fifty years after its first manned space mission. The project promises 1,000 new high-tech jobs and cleverly links commercial space travel with the new European security policy. However, enormous hurdles still lie ahead on the path from the initial political declaration of intent to a real European space hub.

Starbase Europe: Bulgaria's Reach for the Stars: From Cosmonaut to Corporation – A Country Remembers Its Finest Hour

A high-tech park with research and production facilities for companies in the aerospace industry is planned for the former military airfield of Dobroslavtsi near Sofia. EnduroSat founder Raycho Raychev hopes for a thousand new jobs.

Bulgaria is no newcomer to space. On April 10, 1979, the country became the sixth nation in the world to send its own astronaut into space when cosmonaut Georgi Ivanov launched aboard Soyuz 33 as part of the Soviet Interkosmos program. Although the mission had to be aborted prematurely due to engine failure, and docking with the Salyut 6 space station was unsuccessful, its symbolic value remained enormous: Bulgaria was represented in space before Japan, Great Britain, and France, and was the third country in the world to produce special astronaut food. After the end of the Eastern Bloc, however, this tradition largely collapsed, the infrastructure deteriorated, and a significant state-run space program did not exist for decades. It is precisely at this juncture that a private company is now stepping in, almost fifty years later, to revive this old ambition in a radically transformed, commercial form.

From disused runway to European space hub

On August 6, 2026, the Bulgarian government and the Sofia-based company EnduroSat signed a Memorandum of Understanding to transform the Dobroslavtsi military airfield, which has been unused for over 25 years, into a center for aerospace and defense technology. The site covers approximately 290 hectares, or three million square meters, and is located about 15 kilometers north of Sofia. Prime Minister Rumen Radev described the project as a cornerstone of his government's economic policy, which focuses on a knowledge-based economy, high-tech manufacturing, and research and development. As early as May 2026, the Bulgarian Ministry of Economic Development had announced plans to revitalize the Dobroslavtsi economic zone, which had been stalled for years, and to specifically target investors from the defense, innovation, and aerospace sectors, in addition to the originally planned automotive manufacturing.

The investment vehicle through which EnduroSat is managing the project bears the programmatic name Starbase Europe – a deliberate allusion to Elon Musk's Texas rocket base, underscoring the young Bulgarian company's ambition to establish one of Europe's largest space technology centers. Ministerial resolutions dated August 4, 2026, confirm that the memorandum of understanding is initially non-binding and merely outlines the framework for future cooperation between the state and the investor, while specific rights and obligations will only be regulated in subsequent binding contracts. This is an important point that is often overlooked in the public euphoria: So far, it is a declaration of intent, not a legally binding investment contract with fixed sums and deadlines.

When satellites become as big as airplane wings

The real driving force behind this major project is a very real operational problem for EnduroSat. Founded in 2015, the company has evolved from a manufacturer of small CubeSats to a supplier of increasingly larger satellites. The latest generation already weighs between one and three tons, and the unfolded solar panels have a wingspan comparable to that of a Boeing 737. Such dimensions are simply no longer manageable in the existing production facility in Sofia, which only opened in 2023 and has an area of ​​17,500 square meters. Raychev himself put it this way at the official presentation: The goal is to consolidate the entire assembly, testing, and qualification process for the latest generation of satellites – for which there are already customers – at a single location.

The plan envisions a multi-stage approach. The first phase, scheduled to last three years, will see the complete restoration of the former military airfield's runway, accompanied by the construction of a large green space and the first phase of development of the industrial park. The runway will retain its aviation function, both for government purposes and to meet the specific logistical needs of the aerospace company. The site will eventually house assembly line production for mass production, high-tech testing laboratories, engineering offices, and a logistics center, all under one roof.

Education as the second pillar of the location strategy

In addition to the industrial component, a training campus is an integral part of the concept. In cooperation with Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski," the "Georgi Benkovski" Military Academy, and the "NY Vapzarov" Naval Academy, EnduroSat plans to establish a joint Master's program in aerospace engineering on the site. Students will work directly alongside the engineers who assemble actual satellites for international missions. This is intended to create a direct practical connection, rarely possible at traditional university locations. This integration of education and production is a strategically sound approach, as the real bottleneck for many European space projects lies less in capital than in a shortage of specialized personnel. Prime Minister Radev added that a national center for Earth observation and data coordination will be established concurrently, enabling the Bulgarian state to use space data to manage important socio-economic processes – an idea he says he has been pursuing since 2020.

Bulgaria - Find and become a partner - Image: Xpert.Digital

Bulgaria is transforming from an underestimated EU market into a strategic nearshoring hub for European industrial SMEs. With low location costs, EU legal certainty, access to the Eurozone, and strong logistics networks on the Black Sea, the country offers robust alternatives to Asian supply chains.

At the same time, Bulgarian companies also benefit from this growing economic network, which serves as a strong springboard for their own expansion into Germany, Europe and global markets.

More information here:

• Bulgaria B2B Hub - Blog / Insights

A thematic hub offering insights and expertise:

• Knowledge platform covering global and regional economies, innovation and industry-specific trends
• A collection of analyses, insights, and background information from our key areas of focus
• A place for expertise and information on current developments in business and technology
• A hub for companies seeking information on markets, digitalization, and industry innovations

A start-up with global capital behind it

To put the scale of the project into perspective, it's worth looking at EnduroSat's own financial development. According to the company, it has already launched over 100 satellites into space and is considered the largest space center in Eastern Europe. In May 2025, EnduroSat secured a €43 million funding round, led by the US investor Founders Fund of tech billionaire Peter Thiel, with participation from CEECAT Capital and Morphosis Capital. Just a few months later, in October 2025, a significantly larger Series C round of approximately US$104 million followed, with prominent investors such as Google Ventures, Lux Capital, and Riot Ventures. In addition, EnduroSat received €30 million from the European Commission through the European Innovation Council's STEP Scale-Up program. This instrument is specifically designed to help European companies grow, preventing them from being acquired by non-European buyers or relocated abroad, as has so often happened in the past.

Also noteworthy is the history of early venture capital investments: The Bulgarian fund Neo Ventures invested one million euros as early as 2017 and later sold this stake for seven times its initial investment, a move described as one of the most successful exits of an Eastern European investment fund. This capital history demonstrates that Dobroslavtsi is not a state-mandated prestige project lacking economic substance. Rather, it is the logical physical consequence of a company that has raised enormous amounts of private growth capital in a short period and whose production capacity simply cannot keep pace with demand.

Security policy meets industrial policy

The timing of the project is no coincidence, coinciding with a period in which Bulgaria is massively increasing its defense spending. According to an investment plan published in June 2026, the government plans to allocate a total of €19 billion to armaments and defense by 2035. Defense spending is projected to rise from its current level of between 2.15 and 2.65 percent of GDP to the NATO target of 3.5 percent by 2035. Part of this funding is expected to come from the EU's SAFE program, through which Bulgaria was one of the first eight member states to receive approval for national defense loans in January 2026. In addition, Bulgaria is participating in eight joint European defense projects with a total volume of €1.07 billion, including projects for dual-use orbital systems (€57 million) and for the development of cost-effective reconnaissance satellites (€65 million). Dobroslavtsi thus positions itself precisely at the intersection of two European megatrends: the pursuit of technological sovereignty in space and the rearmament of the continent in the face of geopolitical tensions.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Atanas Pekanov aptly summarized the strategic importance of the project, describing it as a form of strategic repurposing, transforming decades-old state-owned land into a hub for critical infrastructure. He believes that companies like EnduroSat will increasingly enable Bulgaria to compete for competitiveness funding across Europe, as these funds are increasingly distributed directly among Europe's leading companies.

Between euphoria of new beginnings and sobering reality

As impressive as the announcement sounds, several aspects warrant closer examination. Firstly, Bulgaria currently lacks its own national space agency. This fact is explicitly highlighted in international commentaries as remarkable, given that a country simultaneously aspires to build one of Europe's largest space centers. This effectively places a significant portion of the institutional control in the hands of a single private company. While this offers opportunities for swift, unbureaucratic action, it also creates dependencies should EnduroSat's business performance deteriorate or the company's strategic priorities shift.

Furthermore, the exact investment amount has not yet been officially confirmed, although Bulgarian media are circulating figures of around US$100 million. The memorandum itself explicitly does not establish any obligations regarding investments, financing, or asset transfers, meaning there is still a considerable gap between the political announcement and the actual contractual implementation. The three-year initial construction phase, solely for the runway reconstruction, also indicates that this is a long-term infrastructure project. Its full impact—such as the promised thousand new jobs—is likely to unfold only over many years and not materialize in the short term.

What Dobroslavtsi means for Bulgaria's economic model

For a country traditionally heavily reliant on textile production, tourism, agriculture, and, more recently, IT outsourcing and nearshoring services, the Dobroslavtsi project represents a remarkable attempt at structural change towards high-quality, knowledge-intensive manufacturing. Should the project be realized on the announced scale, Bulgaria could significantly improve its position within the European innovation ecosystem, transforming itself from a mere cost center into a hub with independent technological expertise in a future-oriented sector. The combination of historical symbolic value, the concrete commercial needs of a growing company, European funding policies in defense and aerospace, and political backing from the government creates a rare constellation where multiple interests are indeed aligned.

At the same time, it remains to be seen whether the necessary infrastructure – from energy supply and skilled worker training to permitting processes – can keep pace with the ambitious timeline. Bulgaria's economic zone policy, as its own ministry freely admits, was characterized in the past by years of stagnation without tangible results before the current realignment gained momentum. Whether Dobroslavtsi will become a European flagship project for commercial spaceflight or remain just another chapter in the long history of grandly announced but sluggishly implemented industrial projects in Southeast Europe will be decided in the next three to five years. By then, the memorandum must have become a binding contract, the runway a functioning infrastructure, and the promise of a thousand jobs real employment.

Hub for Security and Defense - Image: Xpert.Digital

The Security and Defence Hub offers expert advice and up-to-date information to effectively support companies and organizations in strengthening their role in European security and defence policy. Working closely with the SME Connect Defence Working Group, it particularly promotes small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that wish to further develop their innovative capacity and competitiveness in the defence sector. As a central point of contact, the Hub thus creates a crucial bridge between SMEs and European defence strategy.

Related to this:

• The SME Connect Defence Working Group – Strengthening SMEs in European Defence

The quasi-in-house solution: How Xpert.Digital closes operational gaps in B2B marketing and sales – Smart Content-Driven Business - Image: Xpert.Digital

Xpert.Digital is a data-driven B2B industry hub led by Konrad Wolfenstein . The company acts as an external, quasi-in-house solution for industrial partners, closing operational gaps in marketing, content, and sales – without requiring additional resources on the client side.

More information here:

• The quasi-in-house solution: How Xpert.Digital closes operational gaps in B2B marketing and sales – Smart Content-Driven Business

☑️ Our business language is English or German

☑️ NEW: Correspondence in your native language!

Konrad Wolfenstein

I and my team are happy to be available to you as your personal advisor.

You can contact me by filling out the contact form here [email protected]:or simply call me at +49 7348 4088 965. My email address is

I'm looking forward to our joint project.

☑️ SME support in strategy, consulting, planning and implementation

☑️ Creation or realignment of the digital strategy and digitization

☑️ Expansion and optimization of international sales processes

☑️ Global & Digital B2B trading platforms

☑️ Pioneer Business Development / Marketing / PR / Trade Fairs