US-based geospatial analytics provider Satellogic collected $50m in funding yesterday from investors including internet group Tencent.
The round also featured venture capital fund Pitanga Fund; IDB Lab, the innovation arm of IDB Group, an organisation that comprises financial institutions Inter-American Development Bank, Multilateral Investment Fund and Inter-American Investment Corporation; and unnamed existing investors.
Founded in 2010, Satellogic manufactures low-orbit microsatellites that capture high-resolution multispectral images to facilitate geospatial analytics activities by clients such as governments and large enterprises.
The capital will enable Satellogic to cope with demand for its technology. IDB Lab’s investment has been specifically earmarked for monitoring crops and plagues affecting small and medium-sized farms in Latin America and the Carribean.
The round follows a $38m contract with enterprise data science provider Abdas in September 2019 to facilitate the monitoring of agriculture in China’s Henan province.
Satellogic said existing investors supplied about 40% of its latest funding. Tencent had previously led its $27m series B round in mid-2017, investing together with Pitanga Fund, Tuesday Capital (then known as CrunchFund) and undisclosed additional backers.
Tencent and Pitanga Fund had already contributed to a series A round of undisclosed size for the company in 2015, alongside VC firm Valor Capital Group and co-investment vehicle Endeavor Catalyst.
Emiliano Kargieman founder and CEO of Satellogic, said: “Satellogic is experiencing significant commercial momentum, and we’re grateful to have investors that want to fuel that growth and help us service the demand for our Dedicated Satellite Constellation (DSC) and Dedicated Satellite Services solutions.
“Given the commercial success with our DSC bookings and pipeline, in particular, we are fortunate to be in a position to use that cash flow to better leverage investor capital in executing our business plan. It is exciting to know that our investors, new and existing, are there to support us as we enter this next wave of commercialisation.”
