Open Cosmos – a leading space tech business making satellites that gather data to solve pressing global challenges – announced that it has raised $50 million in Series B funding from three leading impact investors, ETF Partners, Trill Impact, and A&G. The funding round also included Accenture Ventures, Banco Santander InnoEnergy Climate Tech Fund and Claret Capital Partners, with participation from Taavet Hinrikus and Kheng Nam Lee.
This funding round will accelerate the company’s growth internationally and expand its offering to encompass sophisticated satellites and constellations and satellite-based analytics and insight solutions. Open Cosmos will use satellites’ power to simplify and democratize space and space data access. And the company’s mission is to allow all organizations to access the benefits of satellite data and insights to address global issues such as the climate crisis, the energy transition, or the sustainable use of natural resources.
Open Cosmos is one of the few companies worldwide that can deliver end-to-end telecommunications, Earth Observation (EO), navigation, and scientific missions. And it designs, builds, launches, and operates advanced satellites through its OpenOrbit offering, enables organizations to access and share data via its mutualized OpenConstellation infrastructure, and offers AI-powered data analysis from a growing range of satellite sources and analytic partners via its DataCosmos platform. This dramatically lowers the costs, complexity, and timescales of missions and simplifies access to EO data to remove the barriers for all companies – even non-space customers – to address society’s most urgent challenges.
Satellites have a wide range of impactful use cases. And their onboard technology – combined with AI applications- can measure greenhouse gases while providing data on global temperature trends and help monitor the extent of polar ice caps, sea levels, and ocean currents. And EO imagery provides enhanced coverage of forests, allowing for the detection of deforestation. During natural disasters, satellite imagery offers real-time data, helping to assess the extent of damage and coordinate relief efforts. Satellites equipped with specialized sensors can detect and monitor oil spills quickly before they are visible from the ground.
Notable, 60% of the 54 essential climate variables can be addressed by satellite data, with 21 requiring long time series and global coverage, which can only be provided by satellites – and this is why the EO satellite market is estimated to be worth $11.3 billion by 2031.
Open Cosmos satellites contribute to a more sustainable world. MENUT launched in January 2023, delivers images monitoring deforestation, wildfire impact, flooding, and coastal erosion. Some of the satellites due to launch in the next few months include:
— MANTIS, funded through UKSA and in partnership with ESA, will produce high-resolution imagery to monitor logistics, energy infrastructure and natural resources
— IOD6, in partnership with the Satellite Applications Catapult, which will focus on monitoring the Atlantic coastal and maritime areas
— PLATERO, contributed by Spain, will combine Earth Observation and IoT on the same satellite to monitor biodiversity and provide real-time insights in the context of natural catastrophes
All three satellites have a multi-sensor design, enabling them to join the OpenConstellation, and the critical data gathered through their monitoring will become part of the DataCosmos platform.
Open Cosmos has a 100% success rate on all the satellite missions it has launched to date. And Open Cosmos was recently selected by the National Commission for Aerospace Research and Development (CONIDA) to develop a data platform aimed at transforming geospatial data distribution in Peru following the success of DataCosmos. This will build on the platform’s work and facilitate access to diverse geospatial data for over 2,500 public institutions and private entities to revolutionize critical sectors and contribute to Peru’s sustainable development goals.
Launched in 2015, OpenCosmos had only raised $7 million in external funding before this round due to its focus on commercialisation and organic growth. And since year end 2020, the business has organically grown to become EBITDA positive, whilst at the same time doubling revenues year-on-year.
This financial sustainability enabled Open Cosmos to raise fresh funding despite the difficult macroeconomic environment across all sectors. And the company has a team of nearly 70 people distributed across the UK, Spain and Portugal and is looking to expand into Latin America, Middle East and Asia Pacific in due course. Open Cosmos is currently evaluating opportunities that complement this geographical expansion with acquisitions that enable inorganic growth both upstream and downstream.
KEY QUOTES:
“Since launch, we’ve viewed Open Cosmos as more than a space tech company; we are agents of change, harnessing the power of satellite data to drive meaningful impact on Earth. Our successful Series B funding, with the support of such prominent ESG and impact investors, is a testament to our commitment to sustainability and innovation. It is important for us as a business to work with investors that believe in our mission and align with our values to use technology to solve urgent global problems and we’re delighted to find that with ETF Partners, Trill Impact and A&G. This investment will propel us forward, allowing us to accelerate our growth, expand our capabilities, and continue offering cutting-edge solutions.”
— Rafel Jorda Siquier, CEO and Founder at Open Cosmos
“Through their technological innovation, Open Cosmos has proven that space is a vital resource for the continued health and prosperity of our planet. Since ETF Partners is an investment firm focused on sustainability through innovation, Open Cosmos is a perfect match for our values and provides an exciting opportunity for profitable investment into a robust and growing market. We are thrilled to be part of this milestone and look forward to carrying our partnership into the future.”
— ETF Partners Managing Partner Patrick Sheehan
“Space data has always been an important means of understanding planet Earth, but in our view, it is only with its increasing affordability, the amplifying effects of climate change and the rapidly growing number of AI/ML solutions that extract insights from this data that the market is now ready to reach its full potential. Open Cosmos is a leader in providing multi-sensor space data at an affordable cost and we consider it a pioneer with creating an appstore-like analytics offering.”
— Toba Spiegel, Investment Manager at Trill Impact
“Open Cosmos has demonstrated not only its unique end-to-end technologies as seen in its organic growth and financial stability but that the team is in a strong position to now take the company to the next level. We look forward to working with the team to seize these market opportunities and solidify its position as a leader in the space technology sector and leveraging its cutting-edge technology to boost the Energy Transition for a better world.”
— Juan Diego Bernal, Managing Director at A&G Energy Transition Tech Fund
“Accenture sees a future where every company is able to harness the vast potential of data captured in space in order to push past the boundaries of the possible and find new sources of innovation. Although access to this data has traditionally been limited and costly, Open Cosmos removes these barriers with satellites that launch quickly and simply, providing fast access to data on climate changes, energy, resources, navigation and more.”
— Tom Lounibos, Managing Director at Accenture Ventures
