Hydrosat

Hydrosat is a geospatial data analytics company that uses thermal infrared imagery to monitor ground temperatures from space. This data could be used to track global warming patterns as well as catastrophic incidents like wildfires. In addition, the infrared sensors are used for crop yield forecasting and irrigation optimization, among other things.

Key customers and partnerships

Hydrosat’s first commercial satellite, “VanZyl-1,” with a thermal infrared camera, was launched in August 2024, via a SpaceX Falcon 9 in collaboration with Loft Orbital, a space services provider. In August 2022, Hydrosat completed the critical design review (CDR) for its innovative VanZyl-1 satellite with ABB. Hydrosat has signed contracts with the European Space Agency and three SBIR contracts with the US Airforce and the Department of Defense.

The company has entered into several contracts with agricultural and environmental companies to provide geospatial data. Hydrosat also plans to scale up toward the commercial sector from its existing focus on the agriculture industry.

In May 2023, Hydrosat acquired IrriWatch, a Netherlands-based irrigation management software provider, to leverage the latter’s proprietary space imagery technology into Hydrosat’s crop forecasting.

Funding and financials

The company’s most recent funding was in April 2023, when it raised USD 20 million in grant and investment funding. This included USD 5 million in government grants and USD 15 million in Series A funding led by Statkraft Ventures. Previously, in November 2021, Hydrosat raised USD 5 million as the second tranche of its seed funding round led by OTB Ventures, following the company’s USD 5 million first tranche of seed funding led by Cultivation Capital. The funds raised were to be utilized to finance the commercialization of Hydrosat’s ground temperature analytics product.