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Urban Sky, a stratospheric technology and remote sensing company, has announced an over-subscribed $9.75 million Series A financing round. New Legacy Ventures, Lerer Hippeau and Lavrock Ventures co-led the round, with participation from Catapult Ventures, Union Labs VC, DA Ventures (a Denver Angels Affiliate), and TenOneTen Ventures. The company will use the funding to scale its commercial imaging operation, develop advanced stratospheric technology, and broaden its sensor portfolio.

Qatar Airways has announced a collaboration with Starlink and will roll out a complimentary high-speed, low-latency internet connectivity experience onboard specific aircraft and routes as a result. Once the service is active, passengers will be able to enjoy ultra-fast Wi-Fi speeds of up to 350 Megabits per second enabling various internet-based services. 

Euroconsult and ICEYE will lead an Earth Observation (EO) consortium that results from a recent request by the European Commission for feasibility study proposals exploring the best way to implement a future satellite-enabled Earth-Observation service for government-authorized users at EU and EU Member States .

Nkechi Egerton-Idehen has been appointed as the new CEO of the Nigerian Communications Satellite Company (NIGCOMSAT). This appointment comes amidst the Nigerian President, Bola Tinubu's significant reshuffle within the Country's Ministry of Communications, Innovations, and Digital Economy, NIGCOMSAT's parent ministry. As a result, Nkechi Egerton-Idehen will assume her new role immediately, succeeding Engineer Tukur Mohammed Lawal Funtua, who took over as NIGCOMSAT’s CEO in December 2022.

Bright Ascension Ltd, a space software technology provider, has announced its successful acquisition of an additional £1.5m in funding through a bridging loan. This investment is an important milestone for the Company as it aims to ensure the seamless development of its innovative HELIX suite of software products as it nears its launch. Furthermore, the investment follows two successful fund-raising rounds, which the Company completed in August 2021 and January 2022which raised £1.5M of equity. 

On the last day of Intergeo 2023 in Berlin, our Torsten Kriening spoke with Barbara Ryan, outgoing Executive Director of the World Geospatial Industry Council (WGIC), about her view on the current market, the challenges and the work the trade association conducted. With almost 17.000 trade visitors from 112 nations, 571 exhibitors from more than 40 countries, over 300 speakers and 841 conference participants from 42 countries, INTERGEO EXPO and CONFERENCE once again proved its position today in Berlin: INTERGEO is the world's leading trade fair and most important international congress platform for all aspects of geodesy, geoinformation and land management.

On the last day of Intergeo 2023 in Berlin, our Torsten Kriening spoke with Marius Swanepoel, Director Maps - Geospatial Engineering at TomTom North America about data management in a highly connected environment and the challenges of free "navi" services. INTERGEO returned to the German capital Berlin! Externally in a different area of the exhibition grounds under the Radio Tower with the brand new Hub27 as the exhibition tree and conference centre.

Our Torsten Kriening spoke on the first day of Intergeo 2023 in Berlin with Bryn Fosburgh , SVP at Trimble and President of the World Geospatial Industry Council (WGIC), about his vision of the trade association and the relevance of space innovations and developments for the geospatial industry. As the market leader, INTERGEO brings together the geospatial community and networks it with its industry users. It is the center of the professional community, the face and communicator of the industry.

In this episode of Space Café Radio, SpaceWatch.Global’s publisher, Torsten Kriening, talks with Nicole Thalhofer, head of Space at the BDLI - German Aerospace Industries Association, about the new German Space Strategy, released at the end of September 2023. The strategy identifies nine fields of action for the German Federal Government. These action fields include: European and international cooperation, Space as a growth market - High-tech and New Space, Climate change, resources, and environmental protection, Digitalization, data, and downstream, Security, strategic capability, and global stability, Sustainable use of space, Space research, International space exploration, Space in dialogue and talent acquisition

Bob Smith, the now retiring former CEO of Blue Origin, was invited at the Financial Times Investing in Space Summit in June 2023 to provide an overview of the future of Orbital Reef, the commercial space station being developed jointly by Blue Origin and Sierra Space. His statements about Orbital Reef were considered a bit disappointing by the inner circle of Space analysts, but nothing in Smith’s tone hinted at the shocking developments that just unfolded.