SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 31, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Orbital Sidekick (OSK), the global leader in space-based hyperspectral intelligence, today announced a $10 million investment round from strategic investors to commercialize its asset monitoring solution that enables the energy sector to further improve the monitoring and mitigation of pipeline emissions. The funding will also support the deployment of OSK’s GHOSt Constellation, a fleet of satellites equipped with best-in-class hyperspectral sensors, launching later this year.
The round was led by existing investor Energy Innovation Capital and included strategic investments from Williams and ONEOK, two of North America’s largest energy companies and existing OSK customers, along with the University of Minnesota Foundation and existing investors 11.2 Capital, Syndicate 708 and In -Q-Tel, the not-for-profit strategic investor serving the intelligence and national security community of the US and its allies.
“This investment by our customers and partners in the energy sector sends a strong signal to the surveillance and intelligence services market that OSK is the leader in the space with a best-in-class, scalable solution to maintain resilient operations,” said Dan Katz, Chief CEO and co-founder of OSK. “By bringing in new strategic investors in Williams and ONEOK, we further strengthen our commitment to providing enhanced asset monitoring services for energy infrastructure while expanding our product offerings that support environmental sustainability and a low-carbon future.”
Founded in 2016, OSK rapidly developed and deployed its space intelligence technology to collect, process and analyze advanced hyperspectral data. By equipping satellites with sensors that capture images in more than 500 narrow, contiguous color bands in the electromagnetic spectrum, OSK can monitor critical infrastructure — such as gas and oil pipelines — from space. The company’s flagship product SIGMA, or Spectral Intelligence Global Monitoring Application, uses this advanced hyperspectral data and its proprietary analytics engine to detect leaks, contamination and other intrusive events that threaten global energy systems. Companies can then use these insights to minimize emissions, exceed regulatory requirements and reduce their carbon footprints.
“The future of energy requires a sustainable and reliable distributed energy infrastructure. OSK’s advanced satellite-based detection and monitoring solution provides unique data and information that can be used by industry to quantify sustainability performance, distinguishing top performers,” said Christopher Smith, Managing Director, Energy Innovation Capital. “We continue to be impressed by the tremendous technical and commercial progress the OSK team has made over the past year, and we are equally excited by the commitment of Williams and ONEOK as commercialization partners. We look forward to the launch and commissioning of GHOSt 1 and 2.”
OSK technologies have already monitored more than 12,000 miles of pipelines to date, noting nearly 100 suspected methane leaks, 200 suspected liquid hydrocarbon leaks and more than 300 intrusive events related to construction activities.
“The success of our efforts to transition to a more sustainable global energy system rests on our ability to efficiently detect problems before they become environmental crises,” said Tushar Prabhakar, COO and co-founder of OSK. “OSK is proud to work alongside investors and customers who share a similar commitment to realizing this sustainable future, and we are excited to build on the success of our technology in 2023, starting with the launch of our GHOSt constellation and our first commercial answer.”
“Williams is excited to add Orbital Sidekick to our portfolio of next-generation gas solutions, further enabling us to provide industry-leading low-carbon solutions for our customers,” said Chad Zamarin, executive vice president of corporate strategic development at Williams. “Through this partnership, we will enhance our real-time methane detection and measurement capabilities to ensure we provide the cleanest pathways across our energy infrastructure network to meet growing clean energy needs at home and abroad.” “
“ONEOK remains focused on exploring and investing in innovative technologies that can benefit our assets, operations, customers, employees and the communities in which we operate,” said Greg Lusardi, ONEOK’s senior vice president of corporate development. “We believe the scalability and application benefits of Orbital Sidekick’s flexible platform will create additional value for our business and the industry.”
While OSK focuses on the energy sector, applications of its technology extend to a variety of commercial and government sectors, with use cases ranging from rare earth materials research and wildfire resilience to disaster relief and global defense support. OSK has already secured contracts to supply hyperspectral data to the United States Department of Defense through its partnerships with In-Q-Tel, the Air Force and the Space Force.
About Orbital Sidekick
Orbital Sidekick’s proprietary analytics platform and hyperspectral payload architecture provide sustainable space-based surveillance solutions powered by Spectral Intelligence™. This unique radiometric specification and change detection capability enables unparalleled target surveillance services for both commercial and defense users on a global scale. For more information on Orbital Sidekick’s global continuous monitoring services, please visit www.orbitalsidekick.com
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