Startup to Watch: Impact Observatory

Editor's note: This is one of 10 companies profiled by DC Inno for its annual Startups to Watch feature. Go here to see all of this year's honorees and learn more about the young, promising companies poised to shake up the region's innovation community.

About the company: Impact Observatory Inc., founded in 2020 by CEO Steve Brumby and Head of Operations Samantha Hyde, is a D.C.-based technology company that uses artificial intelligence and data gathered from space to improve upon the way governments and businesses understand global change as viewed from satellite imagery. Its data-as-a-service products show how changes can occur in populations and infrastructure and how floods and drought can impact natural resources, automatically mapping and monitoring changes with what it says is unrivaled accuracy. The startup’s products have been released in partnerships with firms like Esri, Microsoft and Amazon.com Inc., as well as with the United Nations. Its public good global maps, available to anyone for science-related purposes, have been accessed over a million times. The company, located in downtown D.C., has 20 full-time employees and has raised over $10 million in outside funding. Its most recent round, a seed-stage investment that closed in March 2023, brought in $6 million. Revenue last year surpassed $1 million.

Why we’re watching: Impact Observatory is set to disrupt its industry in 2024 by adding tailored change monitoring — the ability to customize and then closely track the progress of changes — to better support decision-makers across industries and governments who are working in urban development and agricultural production.

Quotable: “Impact Observatory brings the world of Earth observation and climate data to local and regional governments and businesses, democratizing AI-powered analysis capabilities previously only available to the richest country governments and companies.” —Steve Brumby, CEO

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