Near Space Will Launch Over 500 Flights of its Stratospheric Robots in 2022
September 20, 2021 — Brooklyn, New York — Near Space Labs, the cutting-edge geospatial intelligence company that’s democratizing access to Earth imaging, announced today that it has raised $13M in Series A funding. This latest round brings Near Space’s total funding to date to $16.8M and will be used primarily to accelerate the company’s geographic expansion, to invest in key hires and strategic new technologies. The round was led by Crosslink Capital with participation from Toyota Ventures as well as existing investors Leadout Capital and Wireframe Ventures. In addition to the funding, Crosslink Partner Phil Boyer joins Near Space’s Board of Directors.
“We founded Near Space Labs because we believe that high-quality geospatial intelligence, when made accessible to everyone who needs it, has the potential to help communities, businesses and researchers unlock ideas that can help solve humanity’s biggest challenges, including urbanization and climate change,” said Rema Matevosyan, Co-Founder and CEO of Near Space Labs. “These funds will enable us to expand the distribution of our Swiftys across the country and continue to improve the value of our service for our growing customer base.”
Near Space’s autonomous wind-powered high altitude platforms, called Swiftys, make frequent flights in the stratosphere and capture 400–1,000 sq km of crystal-clear imagery per flight (or the area of approximately 187,000 football fields in just one flight). Swiftys offer 50x sharper resolution than satellites, cover more than 5x the area per hour than planes, are 30–45% more cost effective than alternatives, and are zero-emission.
“At Crosslink, we love to partner with companies that are not afraid to be bold and create new categories that can make a massive positive impact on the world,” said Phil Boyer, Partner at Crosslink Capital. “Near Space Labs is a world class team that is flipping the traditional approach to geospatial imagery on its head by collecting data from the stratosphere that is higher quality, more persistent, and more cost effective than the status quo. We believe the value creation potential is massive for this company as a result and are excited to partner with the team on their journey.”
From disaster relief efforts to city planning to monitoring climate change, the potential uses for Near Space’s technology are truly endless. To date, Near Space has seen strong demand from customers across a variety of sectors, including government, insurance and conservation spaces, and has more than 540 flights booked going into 2022.
“Our rapidly changing world poses challenges that demand deeper insights from greater data coverage. Near Space Labs aims at both with a breakthrough Earth imaging accuracy that is smart, scalable, and affordable. Rema’s vision, approach, technology, and team captured our attention from the first meeting. The potential for their stratospheric robots is immense, and we’re thrilled to invest and support the team as they disrupt geospatial intelligence.” Jim Adler, Founding Managing Director, Toyota Ventures.
About Near Space Labs:
Near Space Labs is a cutting-edge geospatial intelligence company on a mission to democratize access to Earth imaging. Co-Founded by CEO Rema Matevosyan, CTO Dr. Ignasi Lluch, and Chief Engineer Dr. Albert Caubet, Near Space provides timely, wide-scale, commercially available imagery with the largest zero-emission balloon fleet in the stratosphere. Near Space Labs is revolutionizing the way that businesses, communities, municipalities and researchers gather data that can help solve some of the world’s biggest problems.
