Vancouver’s Alpha Insights, a developer of groundbreaking high-resolution, dual-band synthetic aperture radar, has announced a seed investment from Prime Movers Lab to advance its new SAR-XL innovation offering.
The funds will be used to scale the team while working toward the launch of Alpha Insights’ initial space program following the acquisition of the SAR-XL technology and engineering team.
Prime Movers Lab is an investor in breakthrough scientific startups that will revolutionize the world’s most important industries and transform billions of lives.
Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) generates a geospatial dataset that is used in the maritime, infrastructure, environmental, and insurance industries, among many others.
Alpha Insights’ patented technology is unique in it is both fully digital and dual band. The result is a satellite payload that not only provides wide area coverage but also an ultra-high resolution SAR image at 0.40 meters. Further, utilizing proprietary AI, and self cueing in conjunction with the dual bands, real-time object identification and analysis is achieved, another industry first.
“We are thrilled to be leading Alpha Insights’ seed funding round,” said Anton Brevde, Partner, Prime Movers Lab. “As proponents of the NewSpace market, and the future space economy, we have been closely tracking SAR innovation, and we believe that Alpha Insights’ approach and technology will be a game changer for Earth observation.”
“We are immensely thankful for the ongoing support from Prime Movers Lab,” said Scott Larson, Co-founder and CEO, Alpha Insights. “Over $65 million has been invested in SAR-XL to date. This new investment will help transition the team, and bolster our engineering, while becoming flight-ready.”
The combination of X and L bands, working in tandem, provides a rich dataset that can not only image through clouds and at night, but also through trees, foliage, and even into biomass. The SAR-XL technology will survey, identify, and even classify objects in real-time and on a global scale. With unprecedented, information-rich geospatial products, Alpha Insights is part of an expanding SAR market that Mordor Intelligence projects will reach $6.5 billion by 2026.
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