Space Technology Company SkyWatch Raises $7.5 Million

By Dan Anderson • Jan 15, 2020
  • Waterloo-based space technology company SkyWatch Space Applications  recently announced it raised $7.5 million

Waterloo-based space technology company SkyWatch Space Applications recently announced it raised $7.5 million ($10 million CAD) in Series A funding led by Bullpen Capital to provide companies with affordable access to satellite data. Space Capital, Golden Ventures, Techstars Ventures, SK Ventures, and Angel Round Capital, and new investors BDC Industrial, Clean, and Energy Technology Venture Fund also joined the round.

This round of funding builds on an exceptional year for SkyWatch, which saw its roster of clients grow more than 10x and highlighted the appetite for Earth Observation data from 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.

SkyWatch’s platform EarthCache enables application developers to integrate satellite imagery into any software application with industry-leading user experience. And the company will soon surpass 100 customers building applications across more than a dozen unique industries.

This round of funding will enable the company 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.

SkyWatch also publicly announced the launch of TerraStream. TerraStream will provide any company launching a satellite with an integrated data storage, cataloging, ordering, processing, and delivery solution thus allowing them to serve customers faster with less operational and financial risk.

“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,” explained SkyWatch CEO and co-founder James Slifierz. “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.”