Investment

Pixxel’s hyperspectral orbital imagery attracts investment from Google – TechCrunch

Published

1 year ago

June 1, 2023

Hyperspectral imagery startup Pixxel has closed $36 million in funding as it prepares to roll out new remote sensing and analytics capabilities to customers.

The L.A. and Bangalore-based startup also scored a new strategic investor: Google, the tech giant that’s as well known for its mapping products as it is for its search engine. While Google led the Series B funding round, this does not mark the start of its relationship with Pixxel, CEO Awais Ahmed said in a recent interview.

“We were already working with them as a client before this,” he explained, with an AI research team from Google employing Pixxel’s hyperspectral data in agricultural applications. Google also rolled out its Earth Engine last year, a powerful tool that gives governments and businesses access to a massive trove of Earth observation data from hundreds of sensors in orbit. Many of Pixxel’s users separately use Earth Engine, Ahmed said, and the ultimate goal is to integrate the startup’s data onto that service.

Hyperspectral imaging uses a spectrometer to identify the spectral signature of objects. Taken from space, this type of imaging unlocks an enormous degree of insight into our planet – from detecting gas leaks to identifying specific types of minerals or plants. Pixxel has been developing this technology since 2019, and it put three demonstration satellites into orbit last year.

The startup has been selling data to a number of customers, including the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office. But “to increase the capacity and to actually reach a point that we can be self-sustaining with revenue,” Ahmed said, Pixxel’s team is now focused on launching its next-gen Firefly constellation. Those satellites will be able to provide 5-meter resolution over most of the Earth, as opposed to 10-meters from the demo satellites. (Ahmed points out that even 10-meters is the highest resolution hyperspectral sensor that’s ever operated in space.)

The Fireflies also have a longer lifespan: from two years to seven years. They are heftier too – 50 kilograms versus 15 kilograms – likely due to increased on-board propulsion. A trio of Firefly satellites will launch in early 2024 with SpaceX, and Pixxel plans to launch another three satellites shortly after. The company intends to launch 18 additional satellites by 2025.

Pixxel’s other major focus has been developing the Aurora analytics platform, which will allow customers to identify the spectral signature of an object with a click of a button. Different model tools will be built-in to the platform, like a crop species identification model, a cloud removal model, and a model to notify about gas leaks. Customers can use Aurora to track specific areas over time and to generate weekly reports on changes over those periods.

Here’s the first sneak peek of our Geospatial analysis data platform “Aurora”, a highly intuitive platform to access end-to-end analytics and extract insights from earth observation datasets. Get access to our alpha testing community now: https://t.co/bPA4qYqmId pic.twitter.com/f3wS6SnAWo

— Pixxel (@PixxelSpace) May 8, 2023

“It’s important for us to not just dump data down to our customers and have them figure it out themselves,” Ahmed said. “There’s very few people in the world with the skill set to actually analyze hyperspectral data so we realized to actually open it up to a lot more customers than would be possible without it, we will build and put the Aurora platform out.”

Crucially, the new capital gives Pixxel enough runway to focus on execution and generating revenue, and not falling to the “valley of death” that annihilates many startups, Ahmed said. The $36 million will see through the manufacturing of the first six Firefly satellites and the first launch next year, as well as the development of the Aurora platform.

Ahmed also revealed that some of the cash is going to development of the next version of its satellites, called Honeybees, which will be even larger and provide even greater resolution. In addition to Google, existing investors Radical Ventures, Lightspeed, Blume Ventures, GrowX, Sparta and Athera also participated in the round. Pixxel has now raised $71 million to-date.

Ahmed said he could foresee a future where hyperspectral is as accessible to the average person as optical satellite imagery is today.

“Right now, you go to Google Earth and look at your houses and roads,” he said. But in the future, one may be able to easily access hyperspectral data to “go to a particular area and see how much metal has changed or how much forest has decreased, or be able to hover over something and identify [it].”

“I think that’s the future.”

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Investment

Tesla shares soar more than 14% as Trump win is seen boosting Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company

Published

3 days ago

November 6, 2024

Anne Joseph

NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of Tesla soared Wednesday as investors bet that the electric vehicle maker and its CEO Elon Musk will benefit from Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

Tesla stands to make significant gains under a Trump administration with the threat of diminished subsidies for alternative energy and electric vehicles doing the most harm to smaller competitors. Trump’s plans for extensive tariffs on Chinese imports make it less likely that Chinese EVs will be sold in bulk in the U.S. anytime soon.

“Tesla has the scale and scope that is unmatched,” said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives, in a note to investors. “This dynamic could give Musk and Tesla a clear competitive advantage in a non-EV subsidy environment, coupled by likely higher China tariffs that would continue to push away cheaper Chinese EV players.”

Tesla shares jumped 14.8% Wednesday while shares of rival electric vehicle makers tumbled. Nio, based in Shanghai, fell 5.3%. Shares of electric truck maker Rivian dropped 8.3% and Lucid Group fell 5.3%.

Tesla dominates sales of electric vehicles in the U.S, with 48.9% in market share through the middle of 2024, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Subsidies for clean energy are part of the Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022. It included tax credits for manufacturing, along with tax credits for consumers of electric vehicles.

Musk was one of Trump’s biggest donors, spending at least $119 million mobilizing Trump’s supporters to back the Republican nominee. He also pledged to give away $1 million a day to voters signing a petition for his political action committee.

In some ways, it has been a rocky year for Tesla, with sales and profit declining through the first half of the year. Profit did rise 17.3% in the third quarter.

The U.S. opened an investigation into the company’s “Full Self-Driving” system after reports of crashes in low-visibility conditions, including one that killed a pedestrian. The investigation covers roughly 2.4 million Teslas from the 2016 through 2024 model years.

And investors sent company shares tumbling last month after Tesla unveiled its long-awaited robotaxi at a Hollywood studio Thursday night, seeing not much progress at Tesla on autonomous vehicles while other companies have been making notable progress.

Tesla began selling the software, which is called “Full Self-Driving,” nine years ago. But there are doubts about its reliability.

The stock is now showing a 16.1% gain for the year after rising the past two days.

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Investment

S&P/TSX composite up more than 100 points, U.S. stock markets mixed

Published

3 weeks ago

October 16, 2024

Anne Joseph

TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 100 points in late-morning trading, helped by strength in base metal and utility stocks, while U.S. stock markets were mixed.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 103.40 points at 24,542.48.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 192.31 points at 42,932.73. The S&P 500 index was up 7.14 points at 5,822.40, while the Nasdaq composite was down 9.03 points at 18,306.56.

The Canadian dollar traded for 72.61 cents US compared with 72.44 cents US on Tuesday.

The November crude oil contract was down 71 cents at US$69.87 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down eight cents at US$2.42 per mmBTU.

The December gold contract was up US$7.20 at US$2,686.10 an ounce and the December copper contract was up a penny at US$4.35 a pound.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)

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Economy

S&P/TSX up more than 200 points, U.S. markets also higher

Published

4 weeks ago

October 11, 2024

Anne Joseph

TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 200 points in late-morning trading, while U.S. stock markets were also headed higher.

The S&P/TSX composite index was up 205.86 points at 24,508.12.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 336.62 points at 42,790.74. The S&P 500 index was up 34.19 points at 5,814.24, while the Nasdaq composite was up 60.27 points at 18.342.32.

The Canadian dollar traded for 72.61 cents US compared with 72.71 cents US on Thursday.

The November crude oil contract was down 15 cents at US$75.70 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down two cents at US$2.65 per mmBTU.

The December gold contract was down US$29.60 at US$2,668.90 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents at US$4.47 a pound.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 11, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD)

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