ICEYE raises USD 136M in Series D funding round
Feb. 3, 2022
ICEYE announced the closing of
a $136M Series D funding round, led by long-standing
investor Seraphim Space. New strategic investors to
ICEYE also include BAE Systems and Kajima Ventures.
In addition, Molten Ventures, OTB Ventures, True
Ventures, C16 Ventures, Chione Ltd, Services Group
of America, the UK's National Security Strategic
Investment Fund (NSSIF), Space Capital and Promus
Ventures have also participated in the funding
round. Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC served as placement
agent for the transaction
With this latest funding round,
ICEYE has raised a total of $304M in financing since
2015. ICEYE owns and operates the world's largest
constellation of SAR satellites and the company has
successfully launched 16 satellite missions in total
since its first-ever spacecraft was placed into
orbit only four years ago.
ICEYE will use the new capital
to grow its innovative Natural Catastrophe solutions
offering and to further develop its leading
satellite constellation and technology, reducing
time to access and increasing the visiting frequency
of its satellites. The company will also make
further investments towards its growth globally,
particularly its analytics services, which includes
artificial intelligence and machine learning.
"ICEYE has gone from
strength-to-strength since we first invested in the
company in 2017. We've watched
the company prove the impossible, possible by
launching the world's first miniaturised SAR
satellite capable of imaging the planet day and
night, to now having grown into being the world's
largest operator of SAR imaging satellites," said
James Bruegger, Chief Investment Officer of Seraphim
Space (Manager) LLP. "As the world's leading
specialist investor focused on the New Space
ecosystem, we have identified ICEYE as one of the
sector's brightest stars. We anticipate that its
global scale persistent monitoring of the planet
will have a major impact in helping address some of
our most pressing challenges."
"Our entire ICEYE team has
built a solid reputation by delivering concrete
results to our customers with unmatched timelines
and quality of service," said Rafal Modrzewski, CEO
and Co-founder of ICEYE. "We are proud of that track
record, and we intend to build and improve upon it.
With this new funding round, we'll be able to
continue expanding our operations and further
develop our NatCat solutions which is an important
focus area to accelerate our growth."
ICEYE's constellation is
designed to provide customers with reliable and
frequent imagery enabling the rapid detection and
tracking of changes on the Earth's surface,
regardless of time of day, or weather conditions.
This capability is ideally suited for applications
such as insurance loss adjustment, natural
catastrophe response and recovery, national
security, humanitarian relief and climate change
monitoring.
"This round of funding shows
the confidence our new and returning investors have
in ICEYE and ensures the company will continue on
its path for growth," said Susan Repo, Chief
Financial Officer at ICEYE. "We are proud of our
ability to meet our customers at their point of
need, and this financing will help us continue to do
exactly that."
ICEYE designs, manufactures,
and operates its SAR satellites in-house, with
manufacturing timelines brought down to a few months
for its spacecraft. On January 13, 2022, ICEYE
launched two SAR satellites from Cape Canaveral,
Florida. The launch also marked the first satellite
built, licensed, and operated by ICEYE US.
In conjunction with OTB
Ventures, the European Investment Fund (EIF)
participated as an investor through the InnovFin For
Equity (IFE) programme, which is backed by the
European Commission.
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