Hydrosat, a climate tech company using thermal infrared imagery to provide insights for commercial and government customers, has announced $20 million in new funding.
The funding includes a $15 million Series A round and more than $5 million in non-dilutive funding to aid in the growth and development of its constellation of satellites and analytics to measure water stress and climate impact. The round was led by Statkraft Ventures and included new investors Blue Bear Capital and Hartree Partners, all three firms focusing on climate tech. It also included participation from OTB Ventures, Freeflow Ventures, Cultivation Capital, Techstars, Santa Barbara Venture Partners, Expon Capital, and Hemisphere Ventures.
Hydrosat, which has offices in Luxembourg and the US, provides continuous thermal monitoring capability that provides frequent and high-resolution data to track water stress events as they occur. The real-time imagery data provides government agencies, agribusiness, insurance companies, and emergency response teams with the critical insights they need to be proactive and respond immediately. The new investment brings Hydrosat’s total funding to date to over $35 million.
“The societal need for insights on water stress and climate are only growing.”
Hydrosat CEO & Co-Founder Pieter Fossel
Recently, Hydrosat secured a licence agreement with the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to operate a private remote sensing space system and signed a $1.2 million contract through AFWERX, the innovation arm of the United States Air Force, to adapt its surface temperature data to the mission needs of the National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC).
Hydrosat also piloted a proprietary Crop Yield Forecast with an exclusive set of users that include Fortune 500 agriculture and food processing companies in the United States and Europe and outperformed the accuracy rates of commercial yield forecasts to demonstrate how infrared imagery and machine learning deliver an advantage.
Hydrosat CEO & Co-Founder Pieter Fossel said: “Climate change is humanity’s most pressing issue, and Hydrosat is addressing it head-on with satellite data. The societal need for insights on water stress and climate are only growing, and that drives a significant market need for space-based insights.”
The new investment will allow Hydrosat to bring daily thermal imagery to market, enabling effective monitoring of threats such as moisture stress accelerated by climate change, which has disrupted global food supplies. Extreme weather events like megadroughts, wildfires, major storms, and flooding threaten both communities and the economy.
