Imaging technology innovator Spexi has announced the close of a Series A funding round.
The Vancouver company is looking to upgrade the aerial imagery industry by building a scalable global network of drones and pilots to capture and deliver frequently updated, data-rich, fully standardized imagery to both the public and private sectors—and to do this all with “near-zero emissions.”
To achieve this goal, Spexi secured more than US$11 million in fundraising. Leading the Series A was Blockchange Ventures.
“With our ability to scale rapidly and deliver superior data with near zero emissions, I am proud that we are not only supporting essential government and emergency response services at a fraction of the usual cost, but also driving the future of AI and metaverse powered technologies across industries globally,” stated Bill Lakeland, chief executive officer of Spexi.
Traditionally, Earth imagery has been captured using airplanes and satellites, Lakeland says, resulting in lower-resolution images that can be expensive to acquire, are updated infrequently, and have high climate impact.
These systems are inadequate for companies and governments in need of near real-time data for critical tasks such as evacuation planning, building and infrastructure inspections, flood monitoring, and wildfire prevention, according to Lakeland.
“As extreme weather events become increasingly more frequent, we take pride in supporting those on the frontlines in keeping people safe at a significantly lower cost,” he said. “It’s deeply rewarding to leverage our pilot network to aid first responders in their life-saving efforts.”
Traditional aerial imagery also fails to meet the demands of next-generation applications like autonomous systems, smart infrastructure, and AR/VR, Lakeland suggested.
For these reasons, the launch and success of a product like Spexi’s was in some ways inevitable.
“The widespread ownership of drones and their high resolution cameras was bound to obsolete the massive existing market for expensive, low resolution, satellite imagery,” suggests Ken Seiff, Managing Partner of Blockchange Ventures.
Spexi’s solution delivers imagery “900 times more detailed than traditional satellite data,” according to a statement from the company.
“Spexi is not simply replacing existing satellite imaging use cases, but opening entirely new markets in geospatial, insurance, AI, public safety, government, gaming, and more,” Self said.
The Series A round follows a seed capital raise in 2022. Since then, the company has imaged more than one million acres across over 100 cities and several countries.
Over the past six months, more than 50,000 drone missions have been completed across Spexi’s network, creating the largest standardized, ultra-high-resolution drone imagery base layer of Earth, according to the B.C. company.
Spexi operates a blockchain-based “Fly to Earn” network. This system empowers drone pilot participants to capture data using the company’s autopilot software.
“Spexi has defined a new category of business by pairing better and cheaper drone imagery with the blockchain’s ability to ensure image integrity,” Seiff said.
Spexi’s growing dataset has also been proving invaluable for training AI models, which rely on large volumes of high-quality, real-world data, according to the upstart.
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