Startups making big moves
A couple of deals of note from earlier in the month: Wyvern, a Canadian satellite maker focused on hyperspectral imaging, raised $4.5 million in a seed round, and Orbit Fab has partnered with Astroscale on satellite sustainability.
Wyvern’s funding comes alongside its acceptance into the latest YC class, which should give you a sense of how hot it is right now. The small team is based out of Alberta, and focuses on the emerging opportunity of affordable, commercial hyperspectral imaging. Unlike visible light or even infrared imaging, hyperspectral can provide a ton of info, about things like the chemical composition of elements in the image. At high resolution, it provides ag tech with super powers, and Wyvern being based outside the U.S. actually means its client list is potentially less restricted than otherwise.
Orbit Fab and Astroscale meanwhile will be providing each other with big boons in terms of proving out their respective businesses, which end up being very complementary. Orbit Fab wants to get everyone using its standard interfaces for on-orbit satellite and spacecraft refueling, and Astroscale wants to send up spacecraft that can attach to older, massively expensive geosynchronous sats and keep them going. Now, Astroscale’s ships will use Orbit Fab’s fueling system to keep them juiced up and working.
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