Metaspectral, a software company advancing computer vision through deep learning and hyper-spectral imagery, announced this week that it has been selected to join Venture Catalyst Space.
Venture Catalyst Space is a commercial space incubator located at the University of South Australia’s Innovation & Collaboration Centre in Adelaide.
Metaspectral was the only Canadian company selected.
Funded by the South Australia Space Innovation Fund, which was established to support the state’s emerging space industry, the accelerator program kicked off this month and runs until the end of August.
ICC Director Jasmine Vreugdenburg said this year’s participants represent some of the strongest South Australian companies the program has seen so far.
“The local talent joining our program is a true testimony to the successful development of South Australia’s commercial space ecosystem,” Vreugdenburg stated.
Metaspectral was selected for the potential of its Fusion technology.
“Our SaaS platform, Fusion, is ideal for real-time compression, transmission, and analysis of hyperspectral imagery from satellites,” stated Francis Doumet, CEO and co-founder of Metaspectral. “Hyperspectral imagery contains data from across the electromagnetic spectrum which, when analyzed with artificial intelligence, can be used to monitor time-sensitive environmental events on Earth such as wildfires, methane leaks, and more.”
The same data can also be “leveraged by the defence industry for real-time intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance,” he added.
Doumet and the rest of his team look forward to accelerating Fusion in Adelaide, where Venture Catalyst Space has been hustling since 2018. Since inception, Venture Catalyst Space has supported 29 space startups.
In 2020, the Australian Space Agency opened its headquarters in Adelaide, further supporting the region’s space prowess.
“Australia is at an exciting juncture in its commercial space journey,” believes Migel Tissera, CTO and co-founder of Metaspectral, who earned both his Ph.D. and Bachelor’s degrees from the University of South Australia.
Now it is time to inject Vancouver-made innovation into the mix.
“I believe that we can bring significant value to the nascent local commercial space market with the years of research behind our space-ready technology,” stated Tissera. “We’re aiming to capitalize on Australia’s interest in space, and we believe our technology can offer great value to Australia.”
Last year, Vancouver-based Metaspectral secured seed capital to power the Fusion product it will now incubate in South Australia. Prior to that, the firm received funding from the Canadian Space Agency.
The tech-forward company has also worked with the International Space Station.
[…] software company advancing computer vision through deep learning and hyperspectral imaging, recently joined Venture Catalyst Spacea commercial space incubator located at the University of South Australia Center for Innovation and […]