Harwell-based Open Cosmos, a leading spacetech business making satellites that gather data to solve pressing global challenges, has raised €47 million in Series B funding from three leading impact investors, ETF Partners, Trill Impact and A&G. The round also included Accenture Ventures, Banco Santander InnoEnergy Climate Tech Fund and Claret Capital Partners, with participation from Taavet Hinrikus and Kheng Nam Lee. The funding will be used to accelerate the company’s growth internationally and expand its offering to encompass sophisticated satellites and constellations as well as satellite-based analytics and insight solutions.
Open Cosmos uses the power of satellites to simplify and democratise access to space and space data. Its mission is to allow all organisations 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.
Rafel Jorda Siquier, CEO and Founder at Open Cosmos, said: “Since launch, we’ve viewed Open Cosmos as more than a spacetech 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.”
According to its founders, Open Cosmos is one of the few businesses in the world that can deliver end-to-end telecommunications, Earth Observation (EO), navigation and scientific missions. It designs, builds, launches and operates advanced satellites through its OpenOrbit offering; enables organisations to access and share data via its mutualised OpenConstellation infrastructure and offers AI-powered data analysis from a growing range of satellite sources and analytic partners via its DataCosmos platform. This not only dramatically lowers the costs, complexity, and timescales of missions, but it also simplifies access to EO data in a way that removes the barriers for all companies – even non-space customers – to address society’s most urgent challenges.
Founded in 2015, OpenCosmos had only raised €6.5 million in external funding before this round, thanks to its focus on commercialisation and organic growth. 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. Today, 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. As well, Open Cosmos is currently evaluating opportunities that complement this geographical expansion with acquisitions that enable inorganic growth both upstream and downstream.
ETF Partners Managing Partner, Patrick Sheehan, added: “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.”
Toba Spiegel, Investment Manager at Trill Impact, commented: “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 app store-like analytics offering.”
Satellites have a range of impactful use cases. Their onboard technology, when combined with AI applications, can measure greenhouse gases, while providing data on global temperature trends and can help monitor the extent of polar ice caps, sea levels, and ocean currents. EO imagery provides enhanced coverage of forests, allowing for the detection of deforestation. During natural disasters, satellite imagery provides real-time data, helping to assess the extent of damage and coordinate relief efforts, while satellites equipped with specialised sensors can detect and monitor oil spills quickly before they are even visible from the ground. Such is their impact, 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 it’s why the EO satellite market is estimated to be worth $11.3 billion by 2031.
