Hydrosat, the climate tech company, announced new funding of more than EUR 18 million, including a 13.4M € Series A round and over 5M € in non-dilutive funding to aid in the growth and development of its constellation of satellites and analytics to measure water stress and climate impact.
This latest round of funding was led by Statkraft Ventures and included new investors Blue Bear Capital and Hartree Partners, all three firms focusing on climate tech. This round also included participation from OTB Ventures, Expon Capital, Freeflow Ventures, Cultivation Capital, Techstars, Santa Barbara Venture Partners, and Hemisphere Ventures.
In recent years, moisture stress accelerated by climate change has disrupted global food supplies. Extreme weather events like megadroughts, wildfires, and flooding threaten both communities and the economy. Effectively monitoring these threats through thermal infrared data has been limited due to infrequency and coarse image resolution.
Climate change is humanity’s most pressing issue, and Hydrosat is addressing it head-on with satellite data. The global need for insights on water stress and climate are only growing, and that drives a significant market need for space-based insights.” Pieter Fossel, CEO & Co-Founder of Hydrosat
Hydrosat delivers the only continuous thermal monitoring capability that provides frequent and high-resolution data to track water stress events as they occur. Real-time imagery data provides government agencies, agribusiness, insurance companies and emergency response teams with the critical insights they need to be proactive and respond immediately.
Having recently expanded our investment scope to include climate tech, we are happy to announce Hydrosat as our first investment in this space.” Alexander Kueppers, Managing Director of Statkraft Ventures in Düsseldorf
He adds: “Surface temperatures are increasing and water scarcity is a pressing problem. Hydrosat will significantly improve decision-making for those in charge by combining high-resolution thermal imagery with advanced analytics. The company’s technology enables the optimization of irrigation, fertilizer usage, wildfire and drought prediction, water resource management, and urban heat mapping capabilities. These are critical for the safety and well-being of communities around the globe. Hydrosat customers are uniquely positioned to manage and protect their precious resources much more efficiently.”
Over €33 million raised so far
"Cost-effective, continuous thermal infrared, at a useful resolution, is one of the holy grails for effective land management, efficient and responsible agricultural development, and precision climate analytics. Blue Bear is excited to back the Series A round and support Hydrosat as they work toward a better-informed, data-driven planetary future," says Vaughn Blake, Partner in Blue Bear Capital.
The new investment brings Hydrosat’s total funding to date to more than EUR 33M. Since Hydrosat’s initial funding announcement in 2021, the company has demonstrated sustained growth and industry-leading service temperature data sets. Recently, Hydrosat secured a license agreement with the U.S. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration to operate its private remote sensing space system.
Infrared imagery and machine learning
Hydrosat also piloted a proprietary Crop Yield Forecast with an exclusive set of users that include Fortune 500 agriculture and food processing companies in Europe and the United States, and it outperformed the accuracy rates of other yield forecasts to demonstrate how infrared imagery and machine learning deliver an advantage.
Hydrosat has been based in Luxembourg since 2018, where its team of scientists and engineers focuses on providing geospatial information for food security, the agricultural sector and the environment.
