CEO Rafal Modrzewski inspects a number of the firm’s satellite tv for pc {hardware}.
ICEYE
Finnish satellite tv for pc imagery enterprise ICEYE introduced in new funds, the corporate introduced on Thursday, because it appears to be like so as to add to its spacecraft fleet in orbit and construct out its rising pure disaster detection product line.
ICEYE closed an $136 million spherical of enterprise capital fundraising, led by U.Ok. fund Seraphim House, bringing its complete funding so far to $304 million since its founding in 2015.
“This financing has actually been constructed across the additional development of the pure disaster product line,” ICEYE CEO co-founder and CEO Rafal Modrzewski advised CNBC, including that “flood monitoring is absolutely the prime product proper now … [but] we need to cowl wildfire, we need to cowl wind, we need to cowl hail.”
Modrzewski declined to specify ICEYE’s new valuation after the fundraise, however stated the rise “was similar to the earlier rounds” and that the corporate is “very happy” with its development. In keeping with Pitchbook, ICEYE’s earlier fundraise put its valuation at about $320 million – and sustaining its valuation development charge traditionally would place ICEYE’s new valuation at over $1 billion.
A bunch of prior traders contributed in ICEYE’s newest spherical – together with Molten Ventures, OTB Ventures, True Ventures, C16 Ventures, House Capital, Chione, Companies Group of America, and the U.Ok.’s Nationwide Safety Strategic Funding Fund – in addition to two ICEYE prospects, BAE Methods and Promus Ventures.
The corporate’s enterprise is predicated upon combining a particular kind of images, referred to as artificial aperture radar (or SAR), with a type issue the scale of a suitcase – decreasing the price of launching a number of satellites to create a community that may picture locations on Earth a number of instances a day. SAR satellites are capable of seize photos of the floor at night time and thru clouds, a key benefit over conventional imaging satellites.
ICEYE has deployed 16 satellites in orbit so far, and the corporate plans to make use of the brand new funds to assist launch as many as 10 extra satellites in 2022.
The Grand Bahama island seen earlier than and through Hurricane Dorian, as extreme flooding lined a lot of the island.
ICEYE | gif by @thesheetztweetz
The expansion of its fleet in orbit is essential to ICEYE increasing its “Nature Disaster (NatCat) Insights and Options” product line, as having extra satellites permits the corporate to go to factors of curiosity extra ceaselessly.
Modrzewski stated the corporate’s largest buyer teams for the NatCat unit are governments and insurance coverage.
“We see big investments from entities like FEMA or the European House Company to grasp floods higher and to reply faster,” Modrzewski stated. “However we additionally see a large initiative coming from throughout the insurance coverage business – to convey new expertise, given what’s occurring to the local weather.”
ICEYE is predicated in Helsinki, Finland however has shortly established a U.S. presence in the past year with a producing facility in Southern California. The corporate launched its first U.S. constructed satellite tv for pc in late 2021, and final month obtained a research contract from the Nationwide Reconnaissance Workplace. The NRO in some ways is the anchor buyer of the U.S. Earth intelligence market, with ICEYE now capable of compete in opposition to different firms for future bids.
For now, ICEYE doesn’t have a timeline to go public, which Modrzewski referred to as “an enormous determination.” He doesn’t assume ICEYE will go public in a yr or two, however added that the corporate “wish to have that possibility inside that time period.”
