Alba Orbital raises £2.4m in seed funding led by Metaplanet Holdings to scale satellite fleet
The seed round was led by Metaplanet Holdings with backing from several institutional investors and angels.
Alba Orbital builds and launches small satellites with the objective of capturing frequent imagery of the Earth. The Scottish firm has launched multiple satellites into orbit.
Alba Orbital has secured £2.4m in seed funding to scale up its satellite fleet and work towards its goal of imaging the Earth every 15 minutes. The investment was led by Metaplanet Holdings, with participation from Y Combinator, Liquid2, Soma, Uncommon Denominator, Zillionize, and several angel investors.
The company has previously launched six satellites and has an additional nine integrated for upcoming launches. The fresh capital will support the business as it expands its constellation, including an 11-satellite network dedicated to night-time imagery.
Founder and chief executive Tom Walkinshaw noted that the round was heavily oversubscribed. The firm is recognised as the first Y Combinator participant from Scotland.
From the founder
"We are thrilled to have closed our first external investment round, which was so popular we could have filled 2 or 3 times over. We are excited to kick on and start building out our fleet at scale, starting with our 11 satellite constellation for night time imagery"
Tom Walkinshaw
Founder and CEO at Alba Orbital
Investor perspective
"We were impressed by Alba’s pitch at Y Combinator demo day and their current performance. We are excited to be onboard as they build out the satellite fleet and tackle the challenge of providing near constant satellite image of the earth"
Rauno Miljand
Managing Partner, Metaplanet Holdings
Investors
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About the company
Alba Orbital
Alba Orbital develops small satellites to image the Earth at frequent intervals.