Draper Associates is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in industry-transforming companies. They invest globally, in great teams of people creating revolutionary companies in new media, gaming, SaaS, cloud, new finance, IOT, and mobile. Their portfolio companies disrupting markets in the tens of billions and are on a clear path to later rounds of fundraising. Draper Associates encourages entrepreneurs to drive their businesses to greatness, to transform industries with new technologies, and to build platforms for extraordinary growth, jobs, and wealth creation. It was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in San Mateo, CA, USA.

Draper Associates

Third Sphere is Pre-Seed and Seed stage fund focused on rapid, scalable climate action and targeting outsized impact and outsized returns.   Fund strategy: Climate action - Track record of over 100 portfolio companies that unlock GHG reduction and resilience via strategies like electrification that don’t ask for premiums, just better products and services such as Cove Tool (building design), OneWheel (consumer EV), and Gradient (home hvac). First-in Capital - focus on ownership in pre-seed/seed stage teams and markets where we can help unlock institutional funding and multiple opportunities to expand ownership before Series A.  Earned access - GPs (Shaun, Stonly, and Shilpi) have 9 years together with public reputation and ranks including; top 1% of investors on NFX for climatetech; #1 ranked early stage fund by Climate 50; named in the  top 10 of VCs who founders love the most by Techcrunch   Repeatable differentiation - Proprietary curated network with over 12k people, enabling 1k annual 1:1 introductions, along with access to asset finance.

Third Sphere

URBAN-X is the platform for startups reimagining city life. Built by MINI, we partner with founders to build bold technology solutions for a sustainable planet. URBAN-X provides world-class engineering and design resources, investment capital through our venture partner JVP, a global network of investors, and premier educational content.

URBAN-X

Green Egg Ventures is an early stage venture fund providing actionable advice and capital to the best entrepreneurs and technology startups in the world.

Green Egg Ventures

CivStart is a non-profit accelerator focused on identifying startup technologies that address the challenges and meet the needs of the state. It provides 24 months of customer development, product development, network building, and expert guidance for startups, all in preparation for securing state and local contracts. Not only will it help to craft solutions to meet these challenges, but it provides direct exposure to interested state and local governments, providing honest feedback and leading to new opportunities. The CivStart ecosystem and curriculum are designed to help cohort members position themselves as more than just government vendors, but as true partners in sustainable impact for its communities.

CivStart

Crosslink, founded in 1989, is a premier early-stage venture capital firm with over $1.3B in assets.  Crosslink partners with founders that are market disrupters and category creators, typically at the Seed-Series A stage, across highly dynamic enterprise and consumer technology sectors. Over its history, Crosslink has had the opportunity to partner with defining companies such as Bleacher Report (acquired by TWX), BuildingConnected (acquired by ADSK), Chime, Coupa (COUP), DataStax, Molekule, Omniture (acquired by ADBE), Personal Capital (acquired by Empower Retirement), Postmates (acquired by UBER), ServiceMax (acquired by GE), Verodin (acquired by FEYE), Vungle (acquired by Blackstone) and Weave.

Crosslink Capital

Wireframe Ventures is a venture capital firm investing at the seed and pre-seed stage. We back missionary founders using technology to positively impact people & planet.

Wireframe Ventures

Toyota Ventures is a San Francisco Bay Area-based venture capital firm that invests in early-stage startups from around the world. Founded in July 2017, its mission is to discover what’s next for Toyota by helping startups bring disruptive technologies and business models to market quickly. With more than $500 million in assets under management, the firm’s funds include the Toyota Ventures Frontier Fund focused on artificial intelligence, cloud computing, autonomy, mobility, robotics, smart cities, digital health, financial technologies, materials, and energy; and the Toyota Ventures Climate Fund focused on innovative solutions for carbon neutrality.

Toyota Ventures

Leadout Capital is a high-resolution early-stage venture capital fund. We lead with a founder market fit thesis and look to back “non-obvious”, resilient founders working on solving problems in overlooked and underserved markets.

Leadout Capital

Saniel Ventures is a private investment group supporting technology companies.

Saniel Ventures

Near Space Labs

Near Space Labs is an aerial imagery and earth observation company, Near Space Labs' imagery makes it easy to monitor assets and gain remote access over broad or specific areas.  Near Space Labs offers cloud-based delivery of fully processed images through its API. The company provides frictionless, affordable imaging for insurance, utilities, infrastructure, conservation, smart cities, retail, energy, government, and disaster response.

Near Space Labs is an Earth observation company that provides high-resolution imagery captured by its proprietary stratospheric balloon technology called Swifty. The company offers 10-centimeter resolution imagery, which enables customers to discern details like roofing conditions, vegetation patterns, and even objects as small as a soccer ball on the ground. Near Space Labs' Swiftys fly at altitudes between 65,000 to 80,000 feet and can capture 400 to 1,000 square kilometers of imagery per flight. This large-scale, high-frequency data collection capability allows the company to provide updated imagery on a quarterly basis or more frequently upon request.

Near Space Labs discloses prices for Texas imagery

Near Space Labs offers free imagery for researchers

How Near Space Labs Compares to Satellite, Aerial, and Drone Earth Imaging

UP42 Partners with Near Space Labs to Offer Very High

Near Space Labs’ High-Frequency, High-Resolution Imagery for Insurance Underwriting

Near Space Labs Brings Highest Resolution Geospatial Imagery Down to Lowest Cost — New 10-Centimeter Resolution Now Accessible with Stratospheric Balloons

Deriving insights from uncommon data streams

Alternative Data

Near Space Labs Announces Nationwide Deployment of Stratospheric Robots Featuring New Industry-Leading 7cm Resolution Aerial Imagery

Near Space Labs is an Earth observation company that provides high-resolution imagery captured by its proprietary stratospheric balloon technology called Swifty. The company offers 10-centimeter resolution imagery, which enables customers to discern details like roofing conditions, vegetation patterns, and even objects as small as a soccer ball on the ground. Near Space Labs' Swiftys fly at altitudes between 65,000 to 80,000 feet and can capture 400 to 1,000 square kilometers of imagery per flight. This large-scale, high-frequency data collection capability allows the company to provide updated imagery on a quarterly basis or more frequently upon request.
Near Space Labs primarily serves businesses, government agencies, and researchers across various sectors, including insurance, urban planning, conservation, mobility, and utilities. Its technology offers a cost-effective and sustainable alternative to traditional aerial and satellite imagery providers. In February 2022, the company announced the availability of its 10-centimeter resolution imagery at the same affordable price point as its previous 30-centimeter offering. Near Space Labs was acquired by an undisclosed company in 2024.

Neudata is a leading fintech firm that provides data intelligence services to asset managers, private equity firms, venture capitalists, consultancies, and corporations globally. It specializes in scouting, sourcing, and evaluating alternative datasets across various industries and domains. Neudata's core offering is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform that houses a catalogue of over 6,900 dataset reports, enabling users to search, manage, and compare data sources effectively.
The company's strength lies in its unbiased and objective approach to data assessment, as it does not buy, sell, or take commissions from data vendors. Instead, Neudata evaluates datasets based on over 100 unique factors and delivers metadata reports and advice to clients for a fee. This neutral stance ensures that clients receive tailored intelligence aligned with their specific strategies and goals.
In addition to its SaaS platform, Neudata provides expert insights through its team of data scouting professionals based in London, New York, and Shanghai. The company also offers a service called AltDating, which facilitates connections between data buyers and sellers, streamlining the process of finding and acquiring relevant datasets.
Neudata has expanded its offerings to include specialized products like Neudata Scout ESG, launched in February 2022. This tool helps organizations identify and manage alternative data sources related to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors, enabling them to comply with regulations and build their own ESG evaluation models.
The company has established itself as a prominent player in the alternative data ecosystem, hosting influential events like the London Data Summit, where industry leaders gather to explore the past, present, and future of data. Neudata's commitment to innovation and its collaborative approach have positioned it as a trusted partner for firms seeking to unlock the value of alternative data.

Neudata

Orbital Insight is a leading geospatial intelligence company that provides AI-powered analytics solutions to help organizations gain insights and understand trends from geospatial data. The company's flagship product, the Orbital Insight Go platform, combines multiple data sources such as satellite imagery, anonymized location data, ship GPS, and IoT data to deliver actionable insights through machine learning algorithms. Orbital Insight's technology enables customers across various industries, including government agencies, corporations, and non-profits, to monitor supply chains, analyze land use patterns, detect illegal activities, and make data-driven decisions.
In February 2022, Orbital Insight secured a contract from the US Department of Defense to develop a platform for identifying intentional Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) interference and manipulation operations worldwide. This technology leverages the company's multisensor data stack and AI capabilities to alert analysts about potential jamming and spoofing events, presenting risks to national security and commercial operations.
Orbital Insight has established partnerships with leading Earth observation companies like Satellogic to enhance its data capabilities. In April 2022, the company announced plans to integrate Satellogic's high-resolution satellite imagery and full-motion video into its platform, providing customers with access to higher quality data, improved revisit rates, and lower-cost analytics.

Orbital Insight

<div>
 
 Planet is a startup based in San Francisco and founded by former NASA employees that collects information about its changing planet via a fleet of compact, highly capable Earth-imaging satellites. The broad coverage and high frequency of Planet's satellite imagery will enable customers with unprecedented access to global and local insights that currently are either impossible or cost-prohibitive to obtain. It designs, builds, and operates the largest fleet of satellites, as well as online software, tools, and analytics needed to deliver data to users. Planet offers a diverse selection of imagery and analytic solutions, all made available online through our platform and web-based tools. They provide geospatial insights at the speed of change, equipping users with the data necessary to make informed, timely decisions. In addition to California, Planet has offices in Germany and Canada where they deliver market-leading geospatial imagery to a global network of customers and partners in over 100 countries. The Planet's mission is to image the entire Earth every day and make global change visible, accessible, and actionable.
 
</div>

Planet Labs

Premise is a market intelligence platform that enables organizations to obtain real-time, granular insights from a global network of contributors. By blending machine learning with human intelligence, the company's proprietary methodology allows clients to gather and analyze local insights quickly and efficiently from almost anywhere in the world.
Premise transforms client questions into tasks distributed through its mobile app marketplace. Contributors perform these tasks, capturing data through images, surveys, or on-site observations. The collected data undergoes rigorous quality control, including location verification, image analysis, and fraud detection algorithms, ensuring accuracy and reliability. Verified insights are then presented to clients through customized dashboards or exported in various formats for integration into existing systems.
Premise caters to diverse industries, including consumer goods companies, international development organizations, and public sector entities. Its solutions provide actionable intelligence for execution monitoring, consumer behavior analysis, community understanding, and supply chain optimization. With a global reach spanning over 140 countries, the company facilitates data collection from even the most challenging regions.
Premise distinguishes itself through rapid insights gathering, unparalleled data granularity, and stringent quality assurance measures. As of 2024, the company recorded over 25 million submissions per year, garnering trust from industry leaders.

Premise

PriceStats is a company that specializes in transforming data into meaningful tools for economic analysis. The company's primary focus is on developing global, real-time economic statistics using online data. PriceStats produces daily inflation statistics and Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) series, which are utilized by various financial institutions and policymakers worldwide. The company's technology leverages online retail prices to reveal offline street price changes, often weeks before official numbers reflect inflation trends. This approach allows for more timely and accurate economic insights, potentially enabling policymakers to better prepare for economic fluctuations.
PriceStats has continuously expanded its product offerings since its inception in September 2010. The company has developed inflation series for numerous countries, including the US, UK, Brazil, Germany, France, Canada, Mexico, Poland, and China, among others. In addition to country-specific inflation indices, PriceStats also produces global inflation series, including World Inflation, Food Inflation, and Fuel Inflation series. The company launched its PPP Series in May 2014, providing charts on real exchange rates, relative prices, and over/undervaluation for various countries compared to the US dollar. In January 2024, PriceStats released the China Aggregate Inflation Series, further expanding its coverage of major economies.
Key customers and partnerships
PriceStats distributes its daily inflation statistics and PPP series through an exclusive partnership with State Street Global Markets and State Street Global Exchange. This partnership, established in May 2011, brings PriceStats' indices to the financial sector. Target clients include hedge funds, pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and other financial institutions interested in accessing high-frequency inflation and PPP measures. State Street provides access to these indices through its proprietary research website, Insights.
In addition to its commercial partnerships, PriceStats has demonstrated a commitment to social responsibility. Since early 2020, the company has provided its indicators for free to 16 central banks worldwide to help navigate the economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. In May 2022, PriceStats began distributing its Global Food Inflation series to the public on a complimentary basis through its partnership with State Street, aiming to assist policymakers in addressing rapidly rising food prices and supply shortages driven by global events. The company has also collaborated with statistical offices, offering item-level data free of charge to institutions such as the UK Office for National Statistics and the Central Statistics Office of Ireland during the Covid-19 pandemic.

PriceStats

Generated by sensors. Satellite imagery captures objects on the ground (e.g., cars in a parking lot and ships at a port), lights, pollution, and particulate matter in the air.

Generated by sensors. Collected by a variety of sensors and has many uses including agriculture and other commodities sensitive to the weather.

Generated by sensors. Data gathered from the GPS, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth signals on mobile phones or other electronic devices, which can be used to track consumer movement such as high footfall areas, time spent at specific locations, and routes.

Generated by individuals. Includes website usage (e.g., time spent on a website, actions, and volume of queries), mobile app usage, social sentiment (based on social media posts, news, videos, and online interactions on social media), product reviews, and surveys.

Generated by individuals. E-receipts gathered from consumers on an opt-in basis provide data on user purchases and product demand. Data are anonymized and provided to corporations for targeted marketing.

Generated by businesses. Credit/debit card transaction and POS system data are structured and sought after and are used to track retail and business spending (e.g., sales volumes and prices).

Generated by businesses. Data sources used to assess consumers' creditworthiness such as income and employment information, consumer banking data, payments to specialty lenders, utilities payments, rental payments, and peer-to-peer lending records. Other data types include local prices, business banking records, commercial transactions (e.g., shipping container receipts), supply chain data, and government and corporation data.

Firms that acquire individual data streams and bundle them for sale to investors or structure/analyze the data to create data products for sale to investors.

Alternative data personalizes products/services by leveraging geolocation, social media, and transaction data for businesses

Near Space Labs

Sources

About EDGE

Contact Us

Resources

Area of Focus

Technology Research Made Effortless