Satellite imagery has many important applications. It is used to fight wildfires, monitor carbon emissions and identify missile tests and human rights abuses overseas.
Albedo, an Austin and Denver-based startup, is developing satellites that fly in very-low-Earth-orbit — less than 450 kilometers above the Earth’s surface — to co-collect 10-centimeter optical imagery and 2-meter thermal infrared imagery, which the company said is “unprecedented” in the commercial market.
Albedo announced on Wednesday that it received $48 million in Series A funding to finish the development of its first satellite and to develop the software to support satellite operations and deliver images to users.
The company was founded in November of 2020. After graduating from the Y Combinator startup accelerator, Albedo raised a $10 million seed round in April of 2021. This latest Series A round, co-led by Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Shield Capital, brings the company’s total funding raised to date to $58 million.
While it was once illegal to sell 10-centimeter imagery, the U.S. Department of Commerce released new regulations for the remote sensing industry in May of 2020. In December, Albedo announced that it had received the first-ever license to sell this imagery commercially.
“Albedo is developing the world’s first commercially available high-resolution imaging capability, which holds tremendous promise for both commercial and defense customers,” Raj Shah, a managing partner at Shield Capital, said in a statement.
In addition to 10-centimeter optical imagery, Albedo also has the ability to co-collect thermal infrared imagery, which the company said is “an added game-changer for many applications.” By fusing these two types of images together, the company plans to develop new products that can track temperature differences, moisture measurements and energy efficiency.
“To reach net zero, we will need high fidelity visual and thermal data that is available at low cost and high frequency, enabling a host of earth science-focused climate solutions,” Carmichael Roberts, a managing partner at Breakthrough Energy Ventures, said in a statement. “Albedo is the first company we’ve seen that can provide this data that will enable applications for precision agriculture, forestry management and wildfire prevention and management.”
Albedo currently employs about 21 people. Half of the team is based in its Austin and Denver hubs, and the other half are distributed across the U.S., according to Albedo’s co-founder and CEO Topher Haddad. The company expects to grow its workforce steadily over the next few years as it hires for a mix of software engineering and space-related engineering roles.
“We have an exciting and challenging road ahead,” Haddad said in a statement. “With new funding and regulatory risks behind us, it’s time to ramp up our technical development and execute on bringing this capability to market.”
