Albedo, a satellite imagery startup that's co-headquartered in Austin and Denver, said Sept. 7 it has raised a $48 million funding round. The series A round was led by Bill Gates' investment firm, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, which is focused on startups helping lead the way to net-zero emissions.
Also in on the round was Shield Capital, a Silicon Valley firm, as well as Republic Capital, Giant Step Capital, C16 Ventures, Initialized Capital, Joe Montana's Liquid 2, Kevin Mahaffey and other angels.
Albedo, which previously raised $10 million after finishing the Y Combinator accelerator last year, has now raised $58 million total.
The startup is developing low orbit satellites that produce 10-centimeter optical imagery and two-meter thermal infrared imagery for the commercial market. Such images, particularly the optical images, can be used for agriculture, mapping, insurance, real estate, planning and other applications. The infrared images, meanwhile, add more insight to the optical and have applications in climate change science.
The satellite-based tech can also be used by the military to identify vehicles, aircraft and missile tests. The company says it is the first to be awarded a U.S. license to sell 10-centimeter imagery commercially.
"We won a Phase II SBIR with AFWERX/Space Force, closed tens of millions in binding pre-sales, and closed hundreds of millions in customer Letters of Intent," Topher Haddad, co-founder and CEO of Albedo, said in a blog post. "All the while, our team has been burning down one technical risk after another as we execute on our roadmap to field this novel space technology."
Along with Haddad, co-founder and Chief Product Officer Winston Tri is also based in Austin. Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer AyJay Lasater is in Denver. The company has 21 employees, with about a quarter in Austin, a quarter in Denver and the rest spread out, Haddad told sister publication Austin Inno via email.
It doesn't yet have a physical office in Austin. It's currently hiring for four positions, which could be based in Austin or elsewhere.
