Satellite imagery specialist Capella raises nearly $100 million to expand its network

Satellite imagery specialist Capella raises nearly 0 million to expand its network


The deployed reflector of the Capella-3 satellite in orbit.

Capella Space

San Francisco-based satellite imagery specialist Capella Space on Monday announced the close of nearly $100 million in financing, as the company looks to expand its line of analytics and data products.

Capella raised $97 million through a mix of equity and debt in a round led by NightDragon and joined by previous investors DCVC and Cota Capital. The company declined to specify its post-money valuation following the raise.

The venture’s business is based on combining a special type of imagery – known as synthetic aperture radar, or SAR – with a small, inexpensive spacecraft. The company is building a network of satellites that can capture images of places on Earth multiple times a day. The SAR technology allows Capella’s satellites to capture images at any time, even at night or through cloud cover.

A synthetic aperture radar image captured by a Capella satellite on the evening of March 25 shows the Ever Given ship surrounded by support boats in the Suez Canal.

Capella Space

Capella currently has seven satellites in orbit, with plans to launch more over the next two years. Capella CEO Payam Banazadeh declined to specify his company’s target number for the satellites it aims to have in its constellation, saying “it’s not about the number of satellites you want to put up.”

“It’s really about what the customers want – where they’re at with respect to the work that they’re doing with you – and how fast the market is growing,” Banazadeh said.

Capella, founded in 2016, currently has about 160 employees.

The company’s current constellation of satellites allows it to take images of “anywhere in the globe” about every three to four hours, Banazadeh noted.

Capella currently has “more than a dozen anchor customers,” Banazadeh added, and doubled its revenue over the last 12 months. The company declined to specify what it’s annual revenue currently is.



Source

Here are the retailers raising prices as Trump tariffs take hold
Business

Here are the retailers raising prices as Trump tariffs take hold

A person picks out clothing in a store as retailers compete to attract shoppers and try to maintain margins on Black Friday, one of the busiest shopping days of the year, at Woodbury Common Premium Outlets in Central Valley, New York, U.S. November 24, 2023.  Vincent Alban | Reuters Consumers who hoped tariffs would not […]

Read More
This is why Jamie Dimon is so gloomy on the economy
Business

This is why Jamie Dimon is so gloomy on the economy

Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, testifies during the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee hearing titled Annual Oversight of Wall Street Firms, in the Hart Building on Dec. 6, 2023. Tom Williams | Cq-roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images The more Jamie Dimon worries, the better his bank seems to do. As JPMorgan […]

Read More
Summer rentals in the Hamptons are down 30%
Business

Summer rentals in the Hamptons are down 30%

Key Points Summer rentals in the Hamptons are down 30% from the same period in previous years, according to Judi Desiderio of William Raveis Real Estate. Brokers who focus on ultra-high-end rentals are seeing an even bigger drop and say their rental business is down between 50% and 75%. Some renters may be holding out […]

Read More