Photo: Orbital Insight

[Via Satellite 06-28-2016] Geospatial big data startup Orbital Insight has raised $20 million in funding through a $15 million Series B round and an investment and development agreement from In-Q-Tel. GV, formerly Google Ventures, led the round, with participation from CME Ventures, and existing investors Sequoia Capital, Lux Capital, and Bloomberg Beta.

With this new round of funding, Orbital Insight plans to continue refining its ability to extract analysis from satellite imagery. The company will also work to expand its range of detectable signals, and hire more experts in the machine vision and data science fields.

Orbital Insight works at the intersection of big data and the commercialization of space. To obtain its imagery, the company has developed partnerships with DigitalGlobe, Airbus, Planet Labs, Rapid Eye, and UrtheCast. According to the company, these contracts enable testing and development of algorithms on a higher volume of imagery than almost any organization in history.

Orbital Insight has developed algorithms to count and measure cars, roads, airplanes, clouds, haze, freshwater lakes, agricultural fields, buildings, and oil tanks using satellite and drone imagery to provide a big-picture understanding of the world. To date the startup has worked with more than 60 asset management firms, several U.S. government agencies, and two global non-profit organizations.