SatVu, a London-based defence tech company using satellites for thermal intelligence operations, has raised £30m in a funding round that including backing from NATO.
The company delivers high-resolution insights from in orbit satellites to government and defence customers. According to SatVu its thermal imagery captures day and night activity at 3.5m resolution, and is used for the detection and assessment of operational changes across varied environments.
SatVu has raised a total of £60m since it was founded and with the new investment secured, it aims to move from a single-satellite demonstration to the launch of a full constellation.
The business has two satellites planned for orbit this year, with an additional three initiated under contract.
“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,” said the co-founder and chief executive Anthony Baker.
“This allows governments to assess activity, readiness, and operational change – a critical new data layer that matters for defence, security, and sovereign decision-making.”
The firm’s investment round included funding from the NATO Innovation Fund along with British Business Bank, Space Frontiers Fund II and Presto Tech.
“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,” said Trisha Saxena, senior associate at the NATO Innovation Fund.
“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 Alliance.”