What do climate change, traffic, and the military have in common? The need for geospatial intelligence. Anyone involved in these fields will need reliable and high-quality imagery to observe trends and use analytics to better and advance their fields. One company, in particular, aims to provide high-quality geospatial imagery at an affordable price. Near Space Labs is the name, and democratizing geospatial intelligence imagery is the game. Read more about them here.
What Does Near Space Labs Do?
Founded by Rema Matevoysan, Ignasi Lluch, and Albert Caubet, Near Space Labs is a geospatial intelligence company. Their mission is to provide high-quality images for organizations involved in the government, insurance, military, climate change, and urban planning fields.
They’ve been operational since 2016, although they were named Swiftera at the time. Since then, they’ve revolutionized the geospatial field, providing clearer images and access to data.
Unlike other geospatial intelligence companies, Near Space Labs is committed to reducing emissions with their balloon fleet.
Their platform takes images anywhere, and data collected by their Swifties can be viewed with anyone who has a subscription with Near Space Labs. Data is not exclusive to any business or company, which anyone can use for whatever purpose.
One area of land they focus on capturing is urbanized areas. After all, you’ll see more changes in urbanized land, and they aim to give updated data to anyone who needs access to it. Matevosyan revealed in an interview that she preferred providing imagery for municipalities and businesses. The images can be valuable for weather-related events and faster response to disasters.
The Swifty Balloon
Capturing images from a high altitude can become expensive. But Near Space Labs have come up with a weather balloon, they named Swifty. Technically, Swifty is their “autonomous high altitude platform.” It can go as high as 85,000 feet to capture images and capture, at the most, 1,000 km worth of imagery in one flight.
However, they work alongside the Federal Aviation Administration to ensure they don’t violate any airspace laws.
Currently, the Swifties have captured over 600,000 images and have taken 300,000 km2 worth of images captured from the stratosphere. Plus, it has logged over 600 hours worth of flight. The company has over eight Swifties in operation.
What Makes Swifty Different?
Aside from affordable rates, Near Space Labs takes 50x clearer photos than any satellite. Not only that, considering they use balloons, they have a plug-and-play model. This gives them an opportunity to iterate technology, something satellites cannot do since they’re in orbit.
How Have Near Space Labs Thrived During the Pandemic?
Although many businesses have faced challenges during the height of the pandemic, the geospatial startup found an opportunity to capture images from anywhere. That’s without the need for the staff or founders to fly to a location. They can ship the Swifty and include a manual to train someone to launch their robot into the stratosphere.
In 2020, they were planning to expand to Texas. It was a smooth ride for them to expand to the state and even set up a technical team to launch Swift there.
Plus, considering they offer a cost-effective solution than other geospatial organizations, many companies have expressed an interest in using their data. The conservation field, in particular, has spiked its applications in 2020.
Funding and Future of Near Space Labs
Crosslink Capital, Toyota Ventures, Leadout Capital, and Wireframe Ventures contributed to the $13M in funding Near Space Labs received for their Series A round. This funding can help them with capturing more imagery for governments and organizations needing data and analytics. Plus, with what they’ve earned so far, Near Space Labs aims to invest in getting new hires.
Not only that, but they have booked 540 flights until 2022! Expect more Swifties to float in the air.
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