Spacetech data startup takes off with $2.2 million Seed round

Sydney satellite data analysis startup Arlula has raised $2.2 million in a Seed round .

The round was led by CSIRO’s deep tech VC fund Main Sequence, with support from Black Nova Venture Capital.

Launched in 2018, Arlula makes Earth Observation (EO) data and imagery captured by satellites available for companies to make better decisions using the information collected from space.

It was backed by the space tech accelerator Moonshot in 2021, going on to raise $500,000 in pre-Seed funding. The NSW government is chipped in an $80,000 grant for Arlula and the CSIRO to research and develop an automated technical solution that solves the problem of integrating large commercial earth observation data workflows into open source and academic projects.

The fresh capital is allocated towards expand access the data collected from EO for small business and open in new markets. The startup’s Geostack Terra platform offers access to EO data, including both live data and archive imagery dating back to the 1970s.

It can enable a business to monitor remote and challenging-to-reach infrastructure such as offshore oil rigs, mines, and pipelines, reducing the need for physical inspections and response in a more timely and cost effective fashion.

Australian Space Agency said Enrico Palermo said Earth Observation data and technologies are critical to a range of applications from agriculture and resource management practices to natural disaster response and climate science.

“Arlula’s innovation is a great example of space technology that is finding a market that private investors are willing to back while also delivering benefits to Australians here on Earth,” he said.