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Paris, 1 June 2021. – The Munich-based space startup OroraTech has closed a €5.8 million Series A funding to finance its wildfire and climate crisis observation nanosatellite platform, the company said.
OroraTech is “the first NewSpace start-up to provide global wildfire detection and monitoring services”, the company said. Its platform is already used by government agencies, insurance companies, and commercial forestry operators.
The latest funding round is led by Findus Venture and Ananda Impact Ventures, with contributions from APEX Ventures, BayernKapital, and business angels including Clemens Kaiser, SpaceTec Capital and Ingo Baumann.
Wildfires destroy 30-40 million hectares of vegetation every year, causing insured losses of over $20 billion, OroraTech said. Forest fires release around eight billion tonnes of CO2 – more than global automobile traffic, it said. OroraTech aims to counteract this increasingly devastating economic and environmental damage.
The first launch of an own satellite is planned for the end of 2021 and will be the basis for a thermal infrared nanosatellite constellation, OroraTech said. It is planning 14 more nanosatellites in 2023 and, by 2026, more than 100 satellites in orbit.
OroraTech currently uses data from 14 different satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and Geostationary Orbit (GEO). It is currently expanding in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, Chile, and Australia. OroraTech is also cooperating with NGOs to preserve wildlife in Africa.
