When it comes to geospatial and mapping data and how organizations use it, satellites play an important role in providing raw information. But getting that raw data into a state that can be used by businesses is another story. Today, a Berlin-based startup called LiveEO, which has built a satellite analytics platform to do just that, has raised €19 million ($19.5 million) on the back of strong demand for its technology from companies working in transportation and energy infrastructure are active. ) collected.
The rise of companies like LiveEO dates back to a period of rapid commercialization of infrastructure used in space, typified by companies like SpaceX but building others, such as a new wave of satellites, in-house. With tremendous opportunity in enterprise IT, big data players like LiveEO are essentially the second wave of this growth: applications leveraging this infrastructure.
Photo credit: LiveEO (opens in new window) under CC BY 2.0 (opens in new window) license.
“You have to create applications for end users so that it’s easy to actually use this data and integrate it into processes,” explains Daniel Seidel (left), who co-founded LiveEO with Sven Przyvera (right). Founded and carried. “That’s what we do on a large scale.”
MMC Ventures is leading the investment, a Series B, and in addition to €17 million in venture capital, the round includes backing from two public bodies, the European Commission and InvestmentBank Berlin. Previous supporters Dieter von Holtzbrink Ventures (DVH Ventures), Helen Ventures, Matterwave and Motu Ventures as well as new supporters Segenia Capital and Hannover Digital Investments (HDINV) are also participating. LiveEO has previously raised €5.25 million for Series A in 2021 and in that time has tripled revenue with customers across five continents and more than half of its engineers and data scientists, bringing the workforce to almost 100.
As a German startup, LiveEO is one of a small but growing group of startups in Europe that is benefiting from growing investor interest in the space in recent years, despite widespread pressure on tech funding. In relative terms, however, the sums are still modest compared to other technology areas: According to LiveEO, this €19 million round is the largest in earth observation technology in Europe. LiveEO has a corporate focus, particularly its analysis for industrial applications – but given the geopolitical landscape and how it brings in a new host of interested parties playing the role of financiers to fuel its growth, it will be interesting to see how it does develops .
LiveEO’s platform bridges a specific gap between space technology and enterprise data. Satellites are collectively producing more data about our world than ever before, covering not only physical objects in minute detail, but also thermal progress, how systems work, and more.
Ironically, much of this data is not available to the companies that use it: given the fragmentation in the satellite industry itself, the data is not only in very raw formats, but also from multiple sources. It therefore comes in forms that can be integrated into existing IT systems, and particularly (and more difficult) IT systems that can be integrated into the infrastructure that is the building block of many industrial deployments. Is — not to mention analyzing it for insight — are all tedious tasks, so much so that the ways of completing them often become unrealistic.
The core of the company’s platform brings together what LiveEO describes as a “satellite imagery-based infrastructure monitoring suite.” For this purpose, earth observation data generated by satellites and analyzed using AI to better understand them in the context of LiveEo’s industrial customers – including large railway companies such as Deutsche Bahn or the energy company E.One – are used. have been.
This may include data on vegetation hazards on railways or other routes; soil deformation; or other physical activities or activities; And it also includes the ability for a LiveEO user to link this data directly to their IT management systems for their infrastructure, such as those who monitor the systems to ensure they are functioning properly. They should. It also projects its solution as green: It uses satellites to source the kind of geographic data these industrial applications need, meaning teams on the ground must source it in other ways. And there is no need to use vehicles.
“One of the great advantages of satellite data is that we don’t have to install any hardware in the infrastructure ourselves,” said Prizvar.
This data is even more complete, he says: As Seidel describes it, combining terabytes of data from multiple sources means it’s not just 3D, but also “4D” thermal data and other types of detail, “as well as the difference between using an image from a smartphone and a higher-end, higher-resolution camera.”
All of this is still relatively new territory, Prizivara said. “Before Google Earth, satellite maps were only used by experts,” he said. “We enable more non-professionals to access satellite data. We make it accessible and usable.”
Lead Investor MMC is one of the most prominent deep tech investors in Europe and it is notable that they are focusing on this area as an opportunity.
“We are excited to lead this round for LiveEO, and it reflects MMC’s continued focus on emerging datasets and companies developing AI analytics,” said Andrei Dvornik, a director at MMC Ventures, in a statement. “LiveEO provides a critical tool that paves the way for sustainable industrial automation, and we leverage the company’s vision of the latest developments in satellite technologies, big data and artificial intelligence to help companies adapt to the challenges of climate change . support wholeheartedly.”
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