Alba orbital raises USD 3.4 million in seed round

UK-based commercial satellite firm Alba Orbital raised USD 3.4 Million in a seed round on 14th May 2021. The funding round was led by Metaplanet Holdings with the participation of Liquid 2 Ventures, Y Combinator, Uncommon Denominator, Soma Capital, James Park and Zillionize Angel. 

The company intends to break out the period of hours and days to get an image of earth observation by providing it in an interval of 15 minutes.

About the Investors – 

MetaPlanet

Metaplanet is an early-stage VC firm that invests in diversified sectors. It is based in Tallinn, Estonia. Till now, the company has been a part of 16 investment rounds. 

Liquid 2 Ventures

Liquid 2 Ventures is a VC firm that invests in Technology startups in early-stage investments. The company was founded and established by Joe Montana, Michael Ma, and Mike Miller in August 2015.

The company has invested in 219 startups and the Alba orbital is the most recent among them. 

Uncommon Denominator

The Uncommon Denominator is a VC firm that focuses on investing in companies that are consumer, SaaS and frontier tech-centric. It’s a backup to the companies that are excellent in something. It was started in 2019 and has its headquarters in the Western US. 

Y Combinator 

Y Combinator is a startup accelerator VC firm that invests in companies of diverse sectors. It was established and founded in May 2005 by Jessica Livingston, Paul Graham, Robert Morris, and Trevor Blackwell. 

Till now, the company has made 3670 investments, in which 1007 lead investments. 

About the company – 

Alba Orbital was founded in 2012 by Tom Walkinshaw, having its headquarters in Glasglow city, United Kingdom. The company builds and designs the world’s smallest satellite platforms. 

Traditionally satellites are costly; even the CubeSat, the most miniature commercial satellite, costs six figures in its building and launch. Alba Orbital builds pico-satellites, which weigh around 1 kg or less, and cost less compared to others. Despite being less heavier and cost-effective, it gives almost every specification that a Cubesat delivers.

The company aims to ‘democratise the space’ by allowing access that is affordable to anyone. It also provides technical support and parts for those launching, designing and building picoSatellites.

Words from the CEO – 

“People thought we were idiots. Now they’re taking it seriously, they can see it for what it is: a unique platform for capturing data sets.” – Tom Walkinshaw, founder and CEO of Alba.

“The California case is probably a wildfire. Having an image once a day of a wildfire is a bit like having a chocolate teapot, not very useful. And natural disasters like hurricanes, flooding is a big one, transportation as well.” – he added.

We try our best to fact check and bring the best, well-researched and non-plagiarized content to you. Please let us know

-if there are any discrepancies in any of our published stories,

-how we can improve,

-what stories you would like us to cover and what information you are looking for, in the comments section below or through our contact form! We look forward to your feedback and thank you for stopping by!

Next article – here.