TellusLabs satellite imagery of crop fields. Photo: TellusLabs

[Via Satellite 01-20-2017] TellusLabs, an Earth monitoring and machine learning company, has raised $3.1 million in seed funding led by IA Ventures and including Hyperplane Venture Capital, Founder Collective and Project 11 Ventures. Based in Boston, TellusLabs aims to provide answers to time-sensitive economic and environmental questions by assembling decades of satellite imagery and other geospatial data into a dynamic map of the Earth. When connected to TellusLabs’ big data and machine learning platform, that map provides insights that are more accurate than what is possible from traditional, terrestrial approaches, according to a statement by TellusLabs.

The company’s first product suite, Kernel, focused on the $3 trillion global agriculture market and its beta program provided forecasts of U.S. soy and corn yields this past growing season. The product’s machine learning algorithms delivered a forecast yield based on decades of harvest data, spaceborne imagery, weather and in-field observations across nearly 175 million acres of cropland.

With this seed round of funding complete, TellusLabs is accelerating ongoing efforts to take Kernel into emerging markets and new crop types. In addition, the company is growing its team of applied geographers, engineers and data scientists to create new intelligence suites in sectors such as water resources, forestry, urban systems and energy and industrial activities.