Finnish space startup ICEYE has raised €94m in growth funding led by Finnish sovereign wealth fund Solidium Oy with participation from Move Capital Fund I, Blackwells Capital, Christo Georgiev and existing investors.
The company, which was founded in 2014, deploys radar satellites that collect images of the surface of the Earth at any time of day, in any weather conditions. It uses a technology called synthetic aperture radar (SAR) that gathers data by transmitting and receiving microwaves.
While other companies deploy similar technology, ICEYE uses microsatellites that weigh less than 100kg, roughly ten times less than a regular satellite. With these smaller satellites, it says it can offer much cheaper service than its rivals.
In 2018, it was the first company to launch a SAR microsatellite in space.
The financing will help ICEYE expand its portfolio of data and subscription products. The raise follows a Series D funding round two years ago. This brings the total amount it’s raised to $438M and makes ICEYE the second best-funded spacetech startup in Europe, according to Dealroom.
“This backing from the domestic and international investment community shows trust in ICEYE’s vision to improve life on Earth by becoming the global source of truth in Earth observation,” Rafal Modrzewski, CEO and Cofounder of ICEYE says in a statement.
The company says it made over $100m in revenue in 2023 and, according to CFO Susan Repo, the company has experienced exponential commercial traction over the past few years internationally.
ICEYE partners with governments and commercial industries and delivers intelligence in sectors such as insurance, natural catastrophe response and recovery, security, maritime monitoring as well as finance. This is aimed at enabling decision-making that contributes to community resilience and sustainable development.
ICEYE, which is headquartered in Finland, has more than 600 employees.
