CEO and co-founder, James Slifierz
A company described as, "a special satellite company that should broaden the market for satellite images by making it easy and fast to schedule image capture,” has completed a $7.5M USD [$10M CAD] Series A round of financing to provide companies with affordable and reliable access to satellite data.
SkyWatch Space Applications Inc. ("SkyWatch"), a Waterloo-based space technology startup, announced that 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.
Duncan Davidson, General Partner at Bullpen Capital said that Skywatch is a special satellite company which should broaden the market for satellite images by making it easy and fast to schedule image capture.
James Slifierz, SkyWatch’s CEO and co-founder added that over the past couple of years, SkyWatch built key enabling technologies for the future of Earth Observation capture and distribution. Today, they are excited to announce that they’ll be able to commercialize and scale that technology globally, thanks to the closing of our Series A financing. They’re excited to have Bullpen Capital and BDC, two firms with deep experience in scaling technology companies, join the SkyWatch team. They’re also happy to have the support from their earliest investors who continue to believe in their ambitions to change the Earth Observation industry.
Their platform EarthCache™ enables application developers to programmatically integrate satellite imagery into any software application with an industry-leading user experience. They will soon surpass 100 customers building applications across more than a dozen unique industries.
This new round of financing will enable them 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.
Slifierz continued on saying that they’re also excited to publicly announce the launch of TerraStream™. Their 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 them 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. They feel incredibly lucky to be building their 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.
