A British start-up which uses thermal imaging to detect heat loss from buildings anywhere on Earth will announce this week a £30m capital injection which includes NATO’s Innovation Fund.
I understand that SatVu, which monitors the performance of key infrastructure from Space, has landed the funding from a syndicate of investors which also include the British Business Bank, Space Frontiers Fund II - with SPARX Asset Management acting as the manager of its investment - and Presto Tech Horizons.
The new money will double the total amount of equity invested in SatVu since its launch to £60m, and comes as the company prepares to expand its constellation of satellites later this year.
Based in London, SatVu has won significant backing from the British government through a number of defence innovation programmes.
Luke Pollard, a defence minister, said the company’s latest fundraising formed part of government efforts to build UK sovereign capabilities through UK Defence Innovation, an agency overseen by the Ministry of Defence.
"We are committed to strengthening national security by scaling British SMEs and start-ups which help keep UK"s defence industry at the cutting edge of innovation," Mr Pollard said.
"Last year we backed SatVu with a defence innovation loan, which has already helped spark £30 million further private investment through this funding round."
Other existing investors, including Molten Ventures, Adara Ventures, Ridgeline Ventures, NOA, Lockheed Martin, Seraphim Space Fund and Stellar Ventures, also participated in the round.
Anthony Baker, SatVu's co-founder and chief executive, said: "SatVu was founded to give governments access to intelligence they cannot access elsewhere.
"High-resolution thermal imagery from space reveals activity that is otherwise invisible - day and night - including heat signatures associated with operations inside and around buildings and critical infrastructure.
"This allows governments to assess activity, readiness, and operational change - a critical new data layer that matters for defence, security, and sovereign decision-making."
He claimed the £30m equity boost "enables us to scale a UK-built, sovereign thermal capability into a multi-satellite constellation supporting government customers in the UK and across Allied nations worldwide".
SatVu plans two launches in 2026, with a further three satellites now under contract.
Trisha Saxena, a senior associate at the NATO Innovation Fund said: "SatVu's thermal intelligence technology can provide governments and businesses across NATO nations with a level of detailed data that was simply not available before.
"We are pleased to support SatVu as it revolutionises the earth observation market, delivering critical insights to the security, finance and commodities sectors to help safeguard defence and economic activity across the [NATO] Alliance."