US-based geospatial software technology provider Orbital Insight completed a $50m series C round on Tuesday that featured trading group Itochu and subsidiaries of internet technology conglomerate Alphabet and trading exchange operator CME Group.
Venture capital firm Sequoia Capital led the round, which included Envision Ventures, Balyasny Asset Management, Geodesic Capital, Intellectus Partners and Lux Capital, while Alphabet and CME participated through their GV and CME Ventures vehicles respectively.
Orbital Insight is developing software that uses machine learning and computer vision to analyse images from satellites and drones in greater depth, executing functions such as counting specific objects or measuring precise areas.
James Crawford, founder and CEO of Orbital Insight, said: “We are on the precipice of having daily five-meter imagery of the world, and then daily one-meter imagery within a few years. Until very recently, the standard was weekly 15-meter imagery, with one-meter imagery available much less frequently.
“We have only just begun to uncover a handful of signals, but we have already seen the impact they can have on financial, energy and insurance markets, as well as society as a whole. We are looking forward to having an even greater presence as we scale alongside the industry.”
The funding will go to growing the company’s range of analytic products, expanding its sales in its most important markets and securing additional strategic partnerships with satellite operators. It also plans to grow its engineering, data science, design and sales teams.
Orbital Insight has now raised $78.7m altogether, $8.7m coming from a 2015 series A round also led by Sequoia that included GV (then known as Google Ventures), media group Bloomberg, which took part through its Bloomberg Beta unit, Lux Capital and Citizen.VC.
GV led the company’s $15m series B round in June 2016, investing alongside Bloomberg Beta, CME Ventures, Sequoia and Lux Capital, while In-Q-Tel, the VC arm of the US intelligence community, added another $5m as part of an investment and development agreement.