The only company selling hyperspectral data from space on the open market announced a $6M fundraising round this week, led by Squadra Ventures with participation from Uncork Capital and Y Combinator.
Wyvern, the Edmonton, Canada space data firm that has amassed $16M in private capital, gathers data from three satellites with hyperspectral sensors.
The company expects three more spacecraft to launch in the next 18 months, and is focused on expanding to the US market, adding to its 36-person team, and developing novel deployable optics.
Hosts with the mosts: Wyvern relies on a constellation as a service model, in contrast to other EO companies. The company’s sensors fly on satellites operated by AAC Clyde Space, with the next three to be operated by Loft Orbital.
“We didn’t raise a ton of money to start out to become vertically integrated,” Chief Revenue Officer Thomas VanMatre told Payload. “We wanted to get to market faster than everyone, and we have. That’s allowed us to get a lot of feedback and refine our product-market fit.”
Secret sauce: Wyvern’s sensors were developed in-house by experts, including cofounder Kristen Cote, with backing from the Canadian government. They boast 5 m resolution and can deliver data across 32 spectral bands.
“We don’t do analytics, we don’t build platforms, we don’t want solutions,” VanMatre said. “Our approach to the market is to only target highly sophisticated customers.”
That includes both national security and civil government, large AgTech and forestry companies, and “mining corporations that actually have hyperspectral data scientists on staff,” he added.
Original Origami: In July, Wyvern secured patents for deployable optics—a smaller-scale version of the unfolding mirrors that help make the James Webb Space Telescope so powerful. The company is still developing the technology, but if they can achieve their goals, the rewards could be immense.
“This could change the small sat remote sensing game,” VanMatre said. “You’d essentially be able to get Maxar Worldview 3 resolution on a Planet Dove-type bus.”
