We are delighted to announce that portfolio company Iceye has just closed an over-subscribed $87m Series C funding round. This round marks one of the biggest funding rounds within the wider Spacetech market in recent years and is the biggest ever VC funding round for a European Spacetech company.

Closing a round of this size is testimony to the incredible achievements of the Iceye team in having launched the world’s first smallsat constellation that uses synthetic aperture radar (SAR) to be able to image the two thirds of the Earth that at any given time is shrouded in darkness and/or cloud.

By being able to see where others can’t, Iceye can monitor the entire Earth at all times and in all conditions. Such timely and reliable information has a myriad of applications in the maritime, disaster management, insurance, and finance sectors. 

Having first backed Iceye in 2017 prior to the launch of their first satellites, it is amazing to see the progress the business has made over the last few years, launching the world's first ever miniaturized SAR satellites that are 1/100th of the size and cost of incumbents. 

These price and size advantages mean that Iceye can build out a constellation capable of imaging every spot on Earth every hour. Fusing data from its satellites with the latest machine learning techniques means Iceye can automatically detect changes on the Earth in micro and macro detail. 

Given the unprecedented frequency and scale of climate driven changes in the weather, crop patterns, fires, urban living and human activities, there is a growing need for such real-time information access on a global scale.

We are excited to continue to support Iceye on its quest to democratize access to the unique insights into our world that only SAR can provide.