My co-founders, Dr. Ignasi Lluch and Dr. Albert Caubet, and I founded Near Space Labs to transform how humanity observes, understands, and responds to our rapidly changing planet. When we started, we saw businesses across industries struggling with Earth observation tools that consistently fell short of modern needs. We envisioned a future where any organization could access clear, timely views of what’s happening on the ground with economics that finally made this critical intelligence widely accessible.
Today, I’m thrilled to announce a major milestone on that journey: we’ve raised $20 million in Series B funding, led by Bold Capital Partners, with participation from USAA, Climate Capital, Gaingels, and River Park Ventures. We’re also grateful for the continued support of Crosslink Capital, Third Sphere, Draper Associates, and our other early backers. This funding represents a vote of confidence in our vision, our proprietary technology, and the unmatched team behind it all.
Our journey centers on our autonomous stratospheric robots called Swifts. These lightweight vehicles are launched from the back of a pickup truck. They rise to altitudes three times higher than airplanes and capture ultra-high-resolution imagery across vast areas. One flight can cover the equivalent of New York City in just a few hours. We do this on demand and at a fraction of the cost of other systems.
Armed with our Swifts, an incredible team, and our audacious conviction, we’ve expanded our coverage across the continental United States to 80% of the US population in 2025 at an industry-leading 7cm resolution. Each accomplishment has reinforced our thesis that a better approach to Earth observation is not just a possibility but an essential asset.
So what’s next? Our technology is opening the door to a new era of geospatial intelligence ready for artificial intelligence, or GeoAI. The world is entering a phase of decision-making constructed around AI models and real-time analytics. For these systems to achieve their full potential, they demand the highest quality data. Earth observation is a foundational dataset for these platforms. Until now, this critical data has been expensive and slow to obtain.
Our Series B allows us to flip that model. Armed with funds to expand our national coverage and build out our team, we’re changing geospatial data into a mission-critical resource with the frequency, coverage levels, and precision needed to support the evolution of the AI age. The future belongs to flying robots capable of feeding models that drive underwriting, infrastructure management, disaster planning, and supply chain optimization.
One of our main priorities now is continuing to get this type of data to industries that are in critical need of it, like insurance, which is under pressure to modernize. Insurers are shifting away from historical risk models and toward data-driven underwriting. They are looking for ways to assess conditions using the power of AI to serve their customers with great speed and transparency. Our technology, and now, our Series B, is making that possible. With each flight, we will help insurers make risk decisions based on the ground truth, not on outdated data from twelve months ago.
But the opportunity goes far beyond one sector. Our imagery is also used by analytics companies developing AI tools, by public agencies improving climate resilience, and by partners who need reliable data to make real-world decisions. Our dedication to our core mission—delivering the industry’s highest-resolution, most frequent, and most cost-effective geospatial intelligence to fuel next-generation AI applications—has never been stronger.
To every member of the Near Space Labs team: your creativity, perseverance, and unwavering dedication have been the foundation of everything we’ve accomplished. Our progress would be unimaginable without the engineers who build our incredible Swift stratospheric robots from the ground up, the operations specialists who transform complex launch windows into consistently high-quality, reliable data deliveries, and the business and partnerships team that enables customers to unlock value from our imagery across sectors.
To our customers who trusted us when we were just beginning our journey—from insurers and value added partners reimagining risk assessment to government agencies tackling critical infrastructure challenges—your willingness to embrace a new paradigm in Earth observation has been the cornerstone of our success. And to our investors who actively champion our ambitious goals—your partnership, guidance, and confidence have been invaluable at every turn.
At Near Space Labs, we are building the infrastructure for a smarter world, and I couldn’t be more energized by what the future holds. This new milestone belongs to everyone who has contributed to our journey. Onward and upward—to the stratosphere we go.
If you’re looking for nationwide high-quality imagery please get in touch with our team.
