Google Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of internet company Google, and Bloomberg Beta, a venture capital fund owned by media group Bloomberg, took part in a $8.7m series A round for big data company Orbital Insight yesterday.
The round was led by venture capital firm Sequoia Capital and also included Citizen.VC and Lux Capital.
Orbital has developed technology that leverages a combination of image processing, neural networks, machine learning and statistical analysis to extract information from satellite images.
Clients, which include hedge funds, real-estate developers, insurance companies and government agencies, as well development and environmental non-profits, can use the processed data to obtain insight into relevant economic and social trends in a given area.
One possible application is a prediction of quarterly retail performance by counting cars in parking lots. On a larger scale, the company is also able, for example, to predict fluctuations in crude oil availability.
Orbital will use the funding to expand its engineering team as well as build up a sales team.
James Crawford, founder of Orbital Insight, said: “We are looking at the world in a new way by processing millions of satellite images at a time and analysing them through neural networks. This macroscope can help all kinds of companies better understand their industry, context and future.”
– Image courtesy of Orbital Insight