The round was led by Uncork Capital (formerly known as SoftTech VC), with participation from a global group of strategic investors from the US, Japan, Indonesia, China, Europe and the United Arab Emirates, including V1.VC, MDI Ventures (a corporate venture arm of Telkom Indonesia), Mercuria Investment Co., the Remote Sensing Technology Center of Japan (RESTEC), and Shobunsha. The funding will allow the company to expand its global presence and further build out its software products that enable seamless hosting and operation of customers' sensors in space.

Globally, commercial, academic, and government organizations spend $45 billion a year to collect Earth observation data from space for applications including environmental monitoring, water resources management, disaster assessment, and global security. Typically, however, these organizations have no choice but to spend tens and even hundreds of millions of dollars, face several years of lead time, and hire large staffs of aerospace engineers in order to collect the information they need. That's why Loft Orbital is making it easier for almost any organization to launch a satellite into space in order to collect information that was never before available, and give them a greater ability to understand the problems facing our planet.

"The traditional model of purchasing and owning a satellite can be an unnecessary and costly burden to organizations who want to collect unique Earth data," says Antoine de Chassy, CEO and Co-founder of Loft Orbital. "By owning and operating the satellites ourselves, we handle all steps of the satellite campaign on the customer's behalf, including procuring and launching a satellite, and obtaining the proper licenses, insurance, and financing."

To lower the cost of deploying assets in space, Loft Orbital uses standard satellite platforms manufactured at high volumes by leading satellite manufacturers. Its core technologies are the standard interfaces and software that enable multiple heterogeneous sensors to integrate on such a satellite, as a rideshare.

"Loft Orbital is seizing on a massive opportunity to provide customers in the space industry an innovative and simple way to access information about the Earth. Their early customer traction is a validation of the market's need and excitement for their solution - which is the equivalent of bringing cloud infrastructure to companies who were forced to build server farms back in the day," says Jeff Clavier, Managing Partner at Uncork Capital, who also joins Loft Orbital's board of directors. "Their capital efficient business model, founding team, and technology approach are unique among space start ups."

Loft Orbital's founding team has a combined 50 years of experience in the space and satellite, commercial aerospace and international defense industries. CEO Antoine de Chassy previously held positions as a senior executive in the industry and CEO of Airbus Geo North America. Co-founders Pierre-Damien Vaujour and Alex Greenberg are both veterans of space startups in Silicon Valley, and Vaujour was formerly an aerospace engineer at NASA.

For more information on Loft Orbital, visit https://www.loftorbital.com

About Loft Orbital
Loft Orbital enables any organization to affordably and reliably collect information about the Earth, from space. Its founding team is driven by a mission to make space simple, and allow organizations greater ability to understand the problems facing our planet. The company was founded in January 2017 and is headquartered in San Francisco, CA. To learn more, visit