There’s no shortage of EO imagery these days, and SkyFi wants to make sure customers can access that data as easily as clicking “add to cart.”
Today the Austin-based startup announced a $12.7M Series A co-led by Buoyant Ventures and IronGate Capital Advisors.
- Existing investors joining the round include RSquared VC and J2 Ventures.
- New investors include DNV Ventures, TFX Capital, Beyond Earth Ventures, and Nova Threshold, as well as Chris Morisoli.
The answer key: SkyFi plans to use the new funds to push the company’s business model into a new era: To shift from a data provider, to a company that can provide answers to customer questions using EO data.
“Imagery is great. It’ll always tell a story, but it’s about the ‘So what?’” CEO Luke Fischer told Payload. “Everybody’s starting to realize the value space, but it’s still a little bit too science focused…Customers don’t care. They’re just like, ‘I just want my answer’.”
SkyFi’s tools bring together multiple EO sources in a single experience. In fact, many EO operators have worked with SkyFi to build their online storefronts. By partnering with dozens of EO providers, SkyFi has the unique capability to create analytics tools that blend together insights from multiple sources.
The result is a product that’s lower-cost to deliver, and closer to what customers are asking for, Fischer said.
“Analytics companies, even satellite providers, have built these Ferrari-level capabilities for answers, where it’s exquisite—but what comes with that is a lot of cost, and a lot of burdensome work,” he said. “We find most customers want that Toyota-level capability, where it’s just good enough to give me the answer.”
What’s next: SkyFi has a tremendous reach, with customers in 180+ countries and across multiple industries, but Fischer told Payload that he believes the industry still has lots of room to grow. He estimated only about ⅓ of potential customers are using EO data today.
During the past few years, SkyFi has seen more customers streaming in from the financial and energy sectors, either to identify new revenue streams or to manage cost structures.
Going forward, SkyFi wants to continue ramping up these business lines, to grow internationally, and to continue to educate new customers in industries traditionally not exposed to space. At the same time, the company is trying to secure a program of record from the US government, and has “multiple doors open” to achieve that milestone.
Correction: This article was amended to correct the name of SkyFi’s investor, its TFX Capital.
