Space technology startup Pixxel has raised $25 million in Series A funding led by Toronto-based Radical Ventures, with participation from Jordan Noone, Seraphim Space Investment Trust Plc, Lightspeed Partners, Blume Ventures, and Sparta LLC.
This brings Pixxel’s total capital raised to around $32.3 million to date.
The company plans to use the funds raised to accelerate the production of a constellation of satellites that can provide the world's highest resolution hyperspectral satellite imaging of the earth, along with offering artificial intelligence-powered insights that discover, solve, and predict climate issues at a fraction of traditional satellite costs, it said in a statement.
"We’re committed to providing a critical tool in the fight against climate change, helping researchers and on-the-ground responders detect and develop effective strategies to combat imminent environmental threats. This funding will not only assist us with this goal but will help us improve our software capabilities so that organisations of all sizes can access and understand this data," said Pixxel CEO and co-founder Awais Ahmed.
The startup will be launching the first of its hyperspectral satellites as a part of SpaceX’s upcoming April Transporter-4 mission. Pixxel said these earth-imaging microsatellites have 50x higher resolution than existing multispectral counterparts and they will be able to capture data at a global scale, unlike drone or land-based multispectral sensors.
Pixxel said it recently retrieved its first hyperspectral satellite images from a camera that was launched last year with partners NanoAvionics and Dragonfly Aerospace. These photos capture the crop health of a Mexican farmland that showed previously indistinguishable soil nutrient content, early stress identifiers, water quality levels, and types of flora in the vegetation.
"Pixxel’s hyperspectral imaging platform is capable of diagnosing climate impacts at a global scale, providing granular insights to any business that benefits from understanding how the earth is changing,” said Parasvil Patel, Partner at Radical Ventures. “By leveraging their proprietary sensor design, Pixxel is pushing the state of the art on imagery resolution. These images feed powerful, AI-powered predictive models that will be relevant to many industries.”
