Canadian Space Technology Startup SkyWatch Raises $7.5M USD ($10M CAD) to Make Satellite Data Easily Accessible
January 7, 2020, Waterloo - SkyWatch Space Applications Inc. (“SkyWatch”), a Waterloo-based space technology startup, announced today it has completed a $7.5M USD [$10M CAD] Series A round of financing to provide companies with affordable and reliable access to satellite data. Bullpen Capital led the investment round with participation from existing investors, Space Capital, Golden Ventures, Techstars Ventures, SK Ventures, and Angel Round Capital, and new investors BDC Industrial, Clean, and Energy Technology Venture Fund.
The Series A financing builds on an exceptional year for SkyWatch which saw its roster of clients grow more than 10x, highlighting the appetite for Earth observation data from the private sector. The market for Earth Observation satellite data and services is projected to represent a $56B cumulative revenue opportunity over the next ten years, growing to $7.2B annually in 2028 [source: NSR]. Arguably the largest hurdle in achieving this potential is reaching new non-traditional customers in the private sector.
“Skywatch is a special satellite company which should broaden the market for satellite images by making it easy and fast to schedule image capture” said Duncan Davidson, General Partner at Bullpen Capital.
“Over the past couple of years, SkyWatch built key enabling technologies for the future of Earth Observation capture and distribution. Today, we are excited to announce that we’ll be able to commercialize and scale that technology globally, thanks to the closing of our Series A financing” said James Slifierz, SkyWatch’s CEO and co-founder. “We’re excited to have Bullpen Capital and BDC, two firms with deep experience in scaling technology companies, join the SkyWatch team. We’re also happy to have the support from our earliest investors who continue to believe in our ambitions to change the Earth Observation industry.”
“Our platform EarthCache™ enables application developers to programmatically integrate satellite imagery into any software application with an industry-leading user experience. We will soon surpass 100 customers building applications across more than a dozen unique industries. This new round of financing will enable us to accelerate and grow past 1,000 customers over the next 12 months, while continuing to develop partnerships with the world’s leading satellite operators.”
“We’re also excited to publicly announce the launch of TerraStream™. Our newest product will provide any company launching a satellite with an integrated data storage, cataloging, ordering, processing, and delivery solution, allowing them to serve customers faster, with less operational and financial risk. With this new injection of capital into the business, SkyWatch will strengthen its global partnership program, helping us support more than a dozen partners who will use TerraStream in the coming years to distribute their satellite data to the world.”
“These two products together are shaping the future of Earth Observation” continued Slifierz. “We feel incredibly lucky to be building our vision of the future right here in Waterloo, Canada, one of the most vibrant technology hubs in the world, and an important ecosystem within Canada’s space technology landscape.”
About SkyWatch
SkyWatch (www.skywatch.com) is on a mission to make Earth-observation data accessible to the world. Hundreds of trillions of pixels of our planet are captured from space every day. Utilizing our past experience in space data aggregation software, our team is building the infrastructure to connect satellite data operators and application developers.
EarthCache™ is the simplest way to get satellite data for an application. TerraStream™ is an integrated data management solution for satellite data operators that handles all data-related operations from ground station to customers.
Contact
Marine Dumontier, Marketing Manager
media@skywatch.com