Sen has raised more than £2m to stream live video of the Earth from high-definition cameras attached to satellites in space.
The service will be free for personal use, with paid tiers that let commercial users download, analyse or commission ultra-high-definition videos.
The London-based startup will use the seed funding, led by venture capital firm Mercia, to place orders for two new satellites next year. Long term, it is aiming to build a constellation of 100 satellites to provide real-time and near real-time video streams.
Static satellite imagery is nothing new but Sen says it’s the first to offer a video service commercially. Commercial targets could include those already paying for static satellites images, such as insurers for weather forecasting or assessing storm damage
“By streaming real-time video to billions of people worldwide, Sen aims to democratise space,” said Charles Black, founder and CEO of Sen.
“Our service will raise awareness about planetary changes and support those directly affected by events on Earth.”
Fresh capital for the firm came in a Mercia-led investment round. It is to be put towards two additional satellites and an upcoming Series A “early next year”. Next year the company plans to launch its app to let people view content from its satellites.
Sen, founded in 2014 by Black, launched the first of its live-streaming satellites in January earlier this year. It is looking to raise a Series A funding round “early next year”.
Lee Lindley, VCT team, Mercia, said: “Sen is not only creating a new form of media suitable for mass consumption but also expanding the ‘earth observation’ market by offering the unique qualities of video for data analytics.”
To date the company has raised more than £7m, coming from investors such as SpaceFund and former Dragon’s Den investor Piers Linney, who advises the recently launched founder network VenturePath.
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