The leading provider of satellite analytics, LiveEO, has secured €19M in funding in what is one of the largest investments to date in Earth Observation in Europe. The round was led by MMC Ventures and includes €17M of venture capital, as well as further funds from the European Commission and Investitionsbank Berlin. All existing shareholders continue to back the company and have participated in the round, including Dieter von Holtzbrinck Ventures (DvH Ventures), Helen Ventures, Matterwave, and motu ventures. Segenia Capital and Hannover Digital Investments (HDInv) have joined the round as new investors alongside MMC.
LiveEO’s core product is an infrastructure monitoring suite powered by satellite imagery. The company uses artificial intelligence to analyze Earth Observation data, and gives operators of railways, power lines and pipelines actionable information on the risk posed by vegetation, ground deformations, or third parties. The software enables customers to optimize the maintenance programs of core infrastructure assets, making them increasingly resilient to climate change. In turn, this reduces travel disruptions, power outages and supply chain delays.
“We are kicking off the third big wave of commercialization of the space industry. After huge investments in rockets and satellites in the past years, it is time for companies like us to develop highly automated applications which translate data from hundreds of Earth Observation satellites into real value for end-users,” said co-founder and co-CEO of LiveEO, Daniel Seidel.
“It is exciting to see that our vision, as well as our execution so far, has attracted interest and investment from both top-tier venture capital firms as well as the public sector. We want to bring insights derived from space imagery to every global value chain, and continue to focus on human-centered applications. This financing round brings us a significant step closer to that goal,” said Sven Przywarra, co-founder and co-CEO of LiveEO.
Since its €5.25M Series A round in 2021, LiveEO has more than doubled its headcount, tripled its revenue, signed new customers across five continents, and strengthened its market-leading position in infrastructure monitoring. In the past four years since its inception, LiveEO’s products have empowered its clients to streamline their maintenance operations, making them safer and more efficient, and saving thousands of tonnes of carbon emissions in the process.
Deep tech investor MMC has shown great interest in the NewSpace ecosystem and identified Earth Observation as a fast-growing market. The investment round is a testament to this assessment. “We are excited to lead this round for LiveEO, and it reflects MMC’s continued focus on emerging datasets and companies that develop AI analytics to power core business decisions. LiveEO offers a critical tool that paves the way for sustainable industry automation, and we wholeheartedly support the company’s vision of leveraging satellite technologies, big data, and the latest developments in artificial intelligence to help companies adapt to the challenges posed by climate change,” said Andrei Dvornic, Principal at MMC Ventures.
The new funds will accelerate LiveEO’s global market expansion for its infrastructure monitoring products and fund entry into new markets such as insurance. New investor HDInv under the leadership of Ulrich Wallin, will support product development and go-to-market for the insurance sector, where LiveEO can contribute to better-informed decision-making. “LiveEO’s technology offers companies and institutions an efficient and smart way to monitor fixed assets. This enables potential damaging events to be detected and prevented at an early stage,” says Ulrich Wallin, HDInv managing director and former CEO of Hannover Re, the world’s third largest reinsurance company.
