Lockheed Martin dives into Satellite Vu’s £20m funding round
Lockheed Martin has dived into a £20m funding round for Seraphim Space-backed Satellite Vu, as the US aerospace giant looks to plant a new space base in the UK.
The London-based satellite firm, which uses infrared imaging and data to observe the Earth from space, has caught the eye of Lockheed in hopes of luring Satellite Vu’s operations to the States.
The fresh bout of capital, following its £3.6m seed funding round in April last year, will help Satellite Vu with its US expansion.
The Seraphim Space-led funding round comes as Satellite Vu readies to launch a constellation of seven satellites – with the first to come next year – which will offer users thermal imaging of the planet’s buildings, cities and waterways in near real time.
Around 40 per cent of the Earth’s carbon emissions come from poorly insulated buildings, which Satellite Vu seeks to tackle with its thermal imaging.
“We are thrilled to have raised further funding to propel our expansion into the US market,” Satellite VU CEO Anthony Baker said.
“This investment further demonstrates that our technology offers potential benefits for national security capabilities, and we look forward to building and expanding our relationship with partners overseas, particularly the US.”
Satellite Vu, which is currently working with Elon Musk’s SpaceX, plans to help both governments and businesses with their decarbonisation goals, in the global push for net zero.
“If you pay someone to upgrade your manufacturing plant in say China, did they do it? Is it as green as you thought?”, Baker told CityAM late last year.
“This is one of the challenges that we all have. Are these offsets as good as they say? Or are some people greenwashing? Space technology, in particular our technology, can give that independent view.”