Kuva Space raised a €16.6M ($17.6M) Series A to accelerate camera development, support constellation deployment, and expand to the US, the Finnish hyperspectral satellite startup announced today.
“This is significant for the next phase of the company, which is to build the capability to add value to customers,” Kuva chief Jarkko Antila told Payload.
The round was led by existing investors Voima Ventures, Nordic Foodtech VC, and Earth VC.
A brief history: The company has deployed three demo cubesats over the last five years and plans to launch its first two commercial satellites next year, with four more on deck for 2025. Kuva aims to expand its constellation to 100 microwave-sized birds by 2030.
To meet growth plans, Antila said the company is looking to triple its payroll from 20 to 60 people.
Kuva’s tech: The company employs its patented hyperspectral sensors to capture images at a wide spectrum of light, allowing its satellites to identify the molecular composition of nearly all materials on Earth.
- This comes in handy for monitoring industry production and resource efficiency.
- Farms can keep tabs on their crops; oil & gas firms can monitor their facilities; governments can better track carbon output.
In June, the company won a $5.5M European Commission contract to monitor farming, forests, methane release, and algae blooms for the Copernicus program.
Model: Kuva doesn’t just collect raw imagery. It’s also developed an AI platform to turn data into actionable customer insights.
“We’re the only hyperspectral company that is going in on not just satellites but also the whole processing chain and robust analytics,” Antila said. “We’re the best ones to utilize our satellite data, and we can source data from our own models for free.”
The platform is offered as a subscription service that provides continuous monitoring, rather than handling individual customer requests. The company believes the model will change how organizations interact with space-based data to achieve their ESG and productivity objectives.
