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SAN FRANCISCO – Another synthetic aperture radar (SAR) start-up has emerged.
Entrepreneur Scott Larson, who co-founded Urthecast and Helios Wire, runs Alpha Insights, a Toronto-based company formed in 2020 to acquire the SAR assets of Urthecast, which filed for creditor protection in 2020 to avoid bankruptcy.
“This is truly a world class X and L band SAR and is generations ahead of anything off the shelf,” said Larson, CEO of Alpha Insights SpaceNews.
Alpha Insights announced on February 10 an initial investment from Prime Movers Lab, a venture capital fund focused on science startups. With the undisclosed level of seed funding, Alpha Insights plans to expand its engineering staff and prepare for spaceflight.
Alpha Insights’ SAR will provide “extensive coverage as well as an ultra high resolution SAR image at 0.40 meters,” according to the press release. Additionally, the company plans to rely on artificial intelligence and proprietary benchmarks to quickly identify and analyze images and data, the press release added.
“We are excited to lead the Alpha Insights seed funding cycle,” Prime Movers Lab partners Anton Brevde said in a statement. “As promoters of the press space market and the future space economy, we closely follow SAR innovation and believe that Alpha Insights’ approach and technology will be a game-changer for the observation of Earth.”
Urthecast has invested more than $ 65 million in X and L band SAR technology to date, Larson said.
By combining the X and L bands, Alpha Insights plans to deliver “a rich data set that can not only image through clouds and at night, but also through trees, foliage and even in the sky. biomass, ”according to the press release. The company sees applications for its images and data in agriculture, environmental studies, security, military, insurance, infrastructure, logistics and market analysis.
Larson co-founded UrtheCast in 2010 with his brother Wade Larson. Scott Larson also co-founded Helios Wire in 2016, after stepping down as CEO of UrtheCast. In 2019, EchoStar paid $ 26 million to acquire Helios Wire. Prior to founding Alpha Insights, Larson was Interim President of Draganfly, a Canadian drone maker.
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