Thermal data startup constellr announced July 24 that it has secured additional funding extending its seed round to €17 million.
Founded in 2020, constellr plans to utilize a constellation of thermal imaging satellites to offer “scalable high-precision smart farming services” to the agricultural sector. The company launched its first system into space aboard a Northrop Grumman resupply mission to the International Space Station in February 2022. The launch of the first HiVE (High-Precision Versatile Exosphere Monitoring) satellite is expected in 2024.
In November 2022, constellar announced that it had secured $10 million in seed funding in a round co-led by Lakestar and VSquared. Today, the company shared that it had extended its seed round by more than €7 million. This latest tranche of seed funding was led by Karista with participation from Einstein Industries Ventures and existing investors FTTF, Lakestar, Vsquared, Amathaon Capital, Natural Ventures, OHB Ventures, and EIT Food.
According to the company, the additional seed funding will be used to accelerate the deployment of its new generation of thermal satellites and to meet growing demand from its US customer base.
“Having the stamp of approval from both Karista, who will drive our French market entry and Einstein, with their deep space industry expertise, alongside our existing top-tier investor base, is a huge step in validating our solution,” said constellr CEO Dr. Max Gulde.
In June 2023, constellr won a multi-million-euro contract from the European Space Agency and the European Commission to provide thermal infrared imaging services to institutional customers as part of the Copernicus Programme. The company has also stated that it has already secured its first major agrifood customer.
To date, constellar has raised almost €24 million. The company closed a €4 million pre-seed round in February 2021 and received a €2.5 million grant from the European Innovation Council in March 2022.
