Omar Qaise is the founder of OQ Technology, Luxembourg's first New Space startup as well as Europe's leading satellite 5G operator in direct-to-device connectivity.

In this episode of Rockets and Radars, Omar shares his journey from working at ESA and DLR to founding a space startup without co-founders in 2016. He reveals how he secured early contracts, demonstrated the world's first satellite 5G connectivity through Tiger missions, and focused on connecting industrial assets beyond cellular coverage. Omar discusses securing €13M in Series A funding co-led by Aramco Ventures, winning the prestigious EIC Accelerator grant, and his vision for a European constellation enabling seamless global connectivity competing with American players.

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Want to invest in OQ Technology? https://tally.so/r/mePYbq

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Chapters:

(00:00) Introduction

(02:47) From ESA to Solo Founder

(06:45) Why Luxembourg

(10:52) First ESA Contracts

(15:20) Patenting Strategy

(19:38) Tiger-1 Mission

(24:10) Securing €1.5M Seed Round

(29:32) Aramco Partnership

(35:45) Tiger-2 Mission

(41:20) Series A: Raising €13M and Scaling the Company

(48:30) Batch-1 Constellation

(52:47) Direct-to-Smartphone Pivot

(57:18) Winning the EIC Accelerator

(01:02:30) Future Vision

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Takeaways:

1) Start alone if you have to - Omar started alone when others saw space as too risky: "The entrepreneurial mindset is not for everyone. Finding the right co-founder is difficult, but at some point, I had to take the decision to start the company and take the risk."

2) Speed beats perfection - When asked if he'd spend more time finding co-founders, Omar emphasized momentum: "If you miss the opportunity, then it's an issue. Especially in space right now, things are moving very fast."

3) Institutional funding needs commercial vision - Omar warns against getting trapped in technical development: "Once you get into technical development and excellence, you need always to keep in mind the commercial aspect. As engineers, we just love to build things and get sucked into the technical and forget about the business."

4) Strategic patents create MOATs - OQ's early patents on satellite 5G technology became part of global standards: "Big companies try to push their patents to be part of the standard. That gives you a huge leverage, a big barrier to entry, but also potentially royalties in future."

5) Trade shows should target customers, not space peers - Unlike most space startups, OQ focused on customer-centric events: "We go to the trade shows where we can sell. Maybe a lot of companies will go to space trade shows, but there you get people who try to sell you space things."

6) Focus on real pain points beyond cell coverage - Omar identified critical gaps in global connectivity: "Beyond the cell tower in remote rural areas, in the seas, you don't have any connectivity solution that works with cellular."

7) Capital efficiency is a competitive advantage - Omar strategically allocated limited resources: "We did have budget allocated, plus there are instruments and tools that help us in securing this without exhaustive cost at the beginning."

8) Orbit demonstration creates unmatched experience - Flying early gave OQ Technology irreplicable knowledge: "We've been through a lot of learning and mistakes that we had to correct. Any company trying now to access that also has to go through this whole cycle."

9) European space needs ambitious growth investments - Omar identifies a critical funding gap: "There's a lot of focus and investment on early stage, but you're gonna have companies that evolve to the scale-up stage."

10) Geopolitics can create market openings - Omar recognized how global tensions create strategic opportunities: "Europe needs to be independent with its infrastructure and technology."