A new type of reusable balloon is aiming to change the way the world gets mapped.
What’s happening:
- Denver, Colorado based startup Urban Sky has raised $9.75M USD in a Series A financing for their Earth imaging technology
- The round was led by New Legacy Ventures, Lavrock Ventures, Union Labs VC and others
The big idea:
- Urban Sky has built small stratospheric balloons that they call ‘micro balloons’ that power their Earth imaging sensory technology
- Their micro balloons are small enough to deploy from a standard pick up truck and are also reusable for multiple flights
- Urban Sky’s technology is capable of mapping changes in cities, inspecting energy infrastructure, monitoring crop growth and even helping prevent forest fires
By the numbers:
- Urban Sky has publicly stated their costs are around $5-$10 per square kilometre for 10 centimetre resolution images
- Other startups in the imaging space have costs closer to $20-$25 per square kilometre and often with lower resolution
Going deeper:
- Typical stratospheric imaging companies end their flights by letting the balloon explode and evaporate into the atmosphere
- Urban Sky is trying to disrupt this idea by being able to successfully land their micro balloons and reuse them for multiple flights
