The maritime-focused US-based satellite data start-up formerly known as Nanosatisfi has raised US$25m in Series A funding.
To be renamed Spire, it will use the proceeds to scale up from its four satellites in orbit to more than 50 in the near future to…
The maritime-focused US-based satellite data start-up formerly known as Nanosatisfi has raised US$25m in Series A funding.
To be renamed Spire, it will use the proceeds to scale up from its four satellites in orbit to more than 50 in the near future to cater for present demand.
The group has also recently opened up a second office in Singapore as it looks to build an international team amid a growing customer base across Asia, Europe and North America.
The funding round was led by RRE Ventures, and included existing and new investors Moose Capital, Quihoo and Mitsui & Co. Global Investment.
RRE Ventures COO Will Porteous said: “Spire has seized on an incredible market opportunity. Its small form factor satellites give it substantially better operating leverage and the potential to disrupt legacy platforms. The calibre of the team, combined with the level of traction with customers, is well above what we normally see in a Series A company. Spire’s expansion into Singapore opens up another new frontier for the business, and bodes very well for the company’s future success in the region.”
Spire was initially incubated by hardware accelerator Lemnos Labs and, with its latest funding round, has raised US$29m to date.
The company believes the three-quarters of the Earth that is remote or covered by water is underserved by rival satellite information companies, and aims to tap demand in areas including global trade, weather, shipping and supply chain, illegal fishing, and maritime domain awareness.
“Modern remote sensing traditionally focuses on the small fraction of Earth that is covered in land and is densely populated with people,” said Spire CEO Peter Platzer.
“What happens, particularly over the oceans, is critical in understanding global systems, and our proprietary technology delivers truly global perspectives that enable our customers to make smarter decisions.”
Spire is one of many start-ups enjoying a surge of investor interest in companies tapping demand for ‘big data’, with others coming to the market recently including Satellogic and OmniEarth. Californian Earth observation firm Skybox Imaging was recently snapped up by Google for US$500m.
