What SatVu does

SatVu (legal entity: Global Satellite Vu Limited) is a UK-based Earth observation and satellite imagery analytics company founded in 2016 that operates the HotSat constellation of high-resolution mid-wave infrared (MWIR) thermal imaging satellites, capturing 3.5 m resolution thermal data day and night, including through smoke. The company's core technology is a proprietary MWIR sensor built in partnership with Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL), with stacked-image processing that improves signal-to-noise ratio and a unique thermal video capability of up to 60 seconds — positioning SatVu as the first commercial provider of high-resolution thermal infrared imagery from space. Products are delivered through three named offerings: Thermal Imagery (Cloud Optimized GeoTIFFs with JSON STAC metadata), Tasking (Standard and Assured on-demand capture with feasibility checks and catalog-withhold options), and Catalog (online access to historical imagery), all served through the SatVu Platform web app and programmatically via a RESTful API and Python SDK.

SatVu monetises through per-image catalog sales, per-task transaction fees with priority-based pricing tiers, multi-year pre-orders and Early Access Programme commitments, government and defence contracts (including an ESA Category 1 Copernicus Contributing Mission contract worth up to €3 million over three years, an NRO Strategic Commercial Enhancements award, and inclusion in the NGA Luno A & B programmes), and an expanding global partner network that includes SUHORA (India/South Asia), OPO (Australia), Sanborn Map (US), IHI Corporation (Japan), and Floodlight (emissions analytics co-development). The company serves three primary verticals — National Security (sovereign and defence ISR), Economic Monitoring (refineries, power plants, LNG, industrial activity verification), and Climate Resilience (urban heat, building energy efficiency, wildfire response) — with named customers spanning the US NRO, NGA, Lockheed Martin, IHI, Chevron, Reliance Industries, the University of Glasgow, the European Space Agency, and the UK DASA.

The business is venture-backed with approximately £60 million ($80 million) in cumulative equity funding across seed, Series A, Series A2 and follow-on rounds, including a £30m round in February 2026 led by the NATO Innovation Fund alongside the British Business Bank, Space Frontiers Fund II, and Presto Tech Horizons. Following the anomaly of HotSat-1 in December 2023, the company launched HotSat-2 in March 2026, with HotSat-3 contracted for 2026 and HotSat-4, HotSat-5 and long-lead elements of HotSat-6 under contract, targeting a 9-satellite constellation delivering 10–20 revisits per day. Headquartered in London with a hybrid team of 11–50 employees, SatVu is led by founder and CEO Anthony Baker, founder and CIO Tobias Reinicke, CFO Camilla Taylor, CTO Scott Herman (appointed January 2026), and a board including investor representatives from Seraphim and Molten Ventures.

Name

SatVu

Legal name

Global Satellite Vu Limited

Website

https://satellitevu.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

SatVu operates a UK-built constellation of high-resolution mid-wave infrared thermal imaging satellites, delivering 3.5 m day-and-night thermal imagery and analytics to defence, energy, and climate customers via a web platform, API, and Python SDK.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Earth Observation / Satellite Thermal Imaging

NAICS

Satellite Telecommunications (5174), Satellite Telecommunications (517410)

SIC

Computer Communications Equipment (3576)

akta.pro primary industry

Satellite Broadband Internet Access (Consumer/SMB) (HDAIAJAA)

Keywords

• Thermal satellite imagery
• Earth observation data
• Geospatial analytics platform
• Infrared imaging services
• Remote sensing data

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Supply Chain, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Catalog sales (per-image): Customers purchase previously captured high-resolution thermal imagery via the SatVu platform catalog; each image has a price associated with it, supporting upfront cost planning and one-time/per-image purchases.
2. Tasking (Standard and Assured): Customers task SatVu satellites to capture new data over an area of interest — Standard Tasking within a date range or Assured Tasking on a specified date with premium-priority uplift; also includes a catalog-withhold option to keep imagery private for a chosen period.
3. Pre-orders / Early Access Programme: Pre-launch purchase commitments secured ahead of satellite availability, including €6.8 million (~£6 million) in pre-orders ahead of HotSat-2's launch; legacy programme included £81 million in purchase options from 30 companies.
4. Government and defence contracts: Multi-year awards from government/defence customers such as NRO Strategic Commercial Enhancements, ESA Category 1 Copernicus Contributing Mission (up to €3 million over three years), ESA Marketplace, and DASA Defence Innovation Loan; supports long-term contracted recurring revenue.
5. API and SDK access: Programmatic data access via RESTful API and Python SDK for developers and integrators, supporting usage-based monetisation.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels9 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

SatVu operates a constellation of high-resolution mid-wave infrared (MWIR) thermal imaging satellites (HotSat series) that capture thermal data at up to 3.5 m pixel resolution day and night. The company sells this data through three core products — Thermal Imagery (the base MWIR image layer), Tasking (on-demand new captures with Standard and Assured priority options), and Catalog (online access to previously collected imagery) — all delivered via the SatVu Platform web app, a RESTful API and a Python SDK for defence, economic monitoring, and climate resilience customers.

Product overview

SatVu delivers a unified thermal intelligence platform-plus-modules architecture: the HotSat satellite constellation (HotSat-1, HotSat-2, HotSat-3 and beyond) captures high-resolution 3.5 m mid-wave infrared imagery from low-Earth orbit, which is then exposed as three named data products — Thermal Imagery (the core MWIR image layer), Tasking (on-demand new captures with Standard and Assured options), and Catalog (online access to historical imagery) — all served through the SatVu Platform (web app) with developer access via a RESTful API and Python SDK. The portfolio is targeted at three sectors: national security, economic monitoring, and climate resilience, including national-security, defence, infrastructure, and urban heat applications.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• HotSat: SatVu's commercial mid-wave infrared (MWIR) satellite constellation providing high-resolution (up to 3.5 m) thermal imagery products including Thermal Imagery, Tasking, and Catalog. The HotSat family includes HotSat-1 (launched June 2023, anomaly December 2023), HotSat-2 (launched March 2026), HotSat-3, HotSat-4, HotSat-5 and HotSat-6 (under contract).
• SatVu Platform
• Thermal Visual Product

Products and services

• Thermal Imagery Core high-resolution mid-wave infrared (MWIR) satellite imagery product capturing thermal activity at up to 3.5 m resolution during day and night, with 15 m CE90 accuracy, ~16 km² scenes, and full 100% cloud assessment; delivered as Cloud Optimized GeoTIFFs, stacked images, JSON STAC metadata, and PNG overviews to defence, energy, climate, and infrastructure customers.
• Tasking On-demand satellite tasking service that lets customers request new captures over a specific area of interest, with Standard Tasking (date range) and Assured Tasking (specified date with highest priority) options, feasibility checks, price estimation, and a catalog-withhold option to keep captured imagery private for a chosen period.
• Catalog Online catalog service enabling customers to search, preview, estimate pricing, order, and download SatVu's previously collected high-resolution thermal imagery across economic monitoring, climate resilience, and national security use cases.
• SatVu Platform Web application (app.satellitevu.com) that delivers the Thermal Imagery, Tasking, and Catalog offerings to customers, with developer access also provided via a RESTful API and a Python SDK.
• HotSat Constellation Planned constellation of up to nine high-resolution mid-wave infrared thermal imaging satellites (HotSat-1 launched June 2023, HotSat-2 launched March 2026 via SpaceX Transporter-16, HotSat-3 in production) built by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL) and designed to deliver 10–20 revisits per day with 3.5 m resolution imagery for global defence, security, and climate monitoring customers.

Quantifiable outcome

• 3.5 m highest-resolution thermal imagery commercially available from space
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers16 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability3 records

Feature9 records

Partnerships

15 partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and minor.

• Sanborn Map Company, Inc.flagshipChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 25 September 2025Multi-year agreement announced September 25, 2025 to bring high-resolution thermal data to the 158-year-old US geospatial mapping leader's customers, extending SatVu's presence in the US market.
• IHI CorporationflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 7 August 2025Collaboration announced August 7, 2025 with leading UK space company SatVu on Thermal Infrared (IR) Satellite Constellation Development contributing to Japan's national security.
• FloodlightcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 14 July 2025Co-development partnership (announced July 14, 2025) combining SatVu thermal imagery with Floodlight's CO₂ analytics to deliver facility-level industrial emissions monitoring and reporting, demonstrated at a Dunkirk steel plant.
• Office of Planetary Observations (OPO)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 3 July 2024Partnership announced July 3, 2024 integrating SatVu's HotSat thermal data into OPO's Nature Data platform for urban greening, tree canopy mapping and heat island monitoring; combined data prioritised tree-planting in Darwin, Australia.
• SUHORAflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 4 June 2024Multi-year exclusive strategic alliance signed at Geospatial World Forum 2024 (announced June 4, 2024). SUHORA leverages SatVu's High Resolution Thermal Data to deliver solutions for Defence, Disaster Management, and government organisations in the India/South Asia region.
• ViasatcoreTechnology or Integration · 22 September 2022Partnership announced September 22, 2022 to ensure rapid commanding, reception and dissemination of thermal imagery from SatVu's satellites via Viasat's ground network.
• SpaceXflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 21 September 2022Launch services partner: second SpaceX launch contract signed September 21, 2022; HotSat-1 launched June 2023 on Falcon 9 from Vandenberg; HotSat-2 launched March 30, 2026 on Transporter-16 rideshare mission.
• Orbit LogiccoreTechnology or Integration · 7 June 2022SatVu selected Orbit Logic's collection planning software (announced June 7, 2022) for the operation of its planned constellation of high-resolution thermal imaging satellites.
• Landmark Information GroupcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 1 March 2022Partnership announced March 1, 2022 to provide vital climate change data to the UK land and property sector.
• Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL)flagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 16 December 2021UK-based SSTL contracted to manufacture HotSat-1 (launched June 2023), HotSat-2 (launched March 2026), HotSat-3 (planned 2026), HotSat-4 and HotSat-5 with long-lead elements of HotSat-6 also under contract. A 2022 'satellite clone' contract doubled data collection capacity.
• UK Space AgencyflagshipOthersGovernment supporter and grant provider; awarded SatVu £1m from the National Space Innovation Programme (NSIP) in 2021 to build the compact high-resolution infrared camera for the first satellite; continues to support SatVu's growth and constellation development.
• European Space Agency (ESA)flagshipOthersProgramme partner and customer: SatVu awarded first UK Category 1 Copernicus Contributing Mission contract worth up to €3 million over three years; also received €1m ESA Marketplace support and €200k+ for the Heat Loss Index study with University of Glasgow; ESA invited international scientific community to access HotSat-1 archive.
• UK Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) / UK Defence InnovationflagshipOthersProvider of an ongoing Defence Innovation Loan supporting SatVu's development; the loan helped spark £30 million of follow-on private investment in the February 2026 round.
• University of Glasgow (Urban Big Data Centre)minorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerResearch collaboration with ESA funding (€200k+) to develop a Heat Loss Index service for building energy efficiency analysis alongside urban sensing experts.
• US National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) — Luno A & B programmesflagshipOthersPartnership announced May 22, 2025: SatVu teams with five industry leaders to advance defence and intelligence data in NGA's Luno A & B programmes combining high-resolution thermal imagery and analytics.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Emerging players

• HEO: HEO is an Australian startup that uses non-Earth-imaging (looking at other satellites) to deliver on-orbit intelligence to defence and intelligence customers. It was named alongside SatVu in the NRO Strategic Commercial Enhancements award, positioning it as a peer at the same stage of commercial ISR engagement with US national security customers.
• GHGSat: GHGSat operates a constellation of satellites dedicated to detecting and quantifying greenhouse gas emissions from industrial facilities worldwide. It is comparable to SatVu as a commercial EO constellation operator selling facility-level thermal/sensor insights to climate, energy and emissions-monitoring customers, and a natural co-development or partnership counterpart in the climate resilience segment.
• Pixxel: Pixxel is building a commercial hyperspectral Earth observation constellation to deliver fine-spectral imaging for agriculture, mining, defence and environmental monitoring. SatVu's new VP of US Operations & Programs previously held a senior role at Pixxel, and both are emerging next-generation EO companies selling differentiated spectral data to commercial and defence customers.

Broad incumbents

• Maxar Technologies: Maxar is a leading provider of high-resolution optical Earth observation imagery and geospatial intelligence to US and allied defence and intelligence customers. SatVu's new VP of US Operations & Programs joins from a Maxar-adjacent background, and Maxar is the established incumbent whose budget SatVu's NRO and NGA awards aim to access.

Direct peers

• Satellogic: Satellogic operates a constellation of high-resolution Earth observation satellites providing multispectral imagery and analytics to defence, government and commercial customers globally. It is a direct new-space EO competitor focused on cost-effective, high-cadence imagery for monitoring and intelligence applications that overlap with SatVu's economic monitoring and defence segments.
• Capella Space: Capella Space operates a commercial SAR satellite constellation providing high-resolution all-weather imagery to defence, intelligence and commercial customers. It is a direct peer in the next-generation commercial EO constellation category serving ISR and monitoring use cases that overlap with SatVu's national security and economic monitoring segments.
• ICEYE: ICEYE operates the largest commercial synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite constellation, delivering persistent day-and-night imagery to defence, insurance and government customers. It is a comparable new-space EO peer that complements optical systems with all-weather radar, and competes for the same defence and sovereign-monitoring wallet share as SatVu's MWIR imagery.
• Planet Labs: Planet Labs operates the world's largest commercial EO satellite fleet, providing daily-revisit optical imagery and, through its acquired SkySat and Tanager assets, higher-resolution imagery and analytics to defence, civil government and commercial buyers. It is a direct competitor for budget share in defence ISR and for catalog/tasking use cases overlapping with SatVu's economic monitoring and national security segments.
• BlackSky: BlackSky operates a commercial low-Earth-orbit constellation delivering high-revisit Earth observation imagery and analytics primarily to defence, intelligence and commercial customers. It directly competes with SatVu in the tasking, catalog and ISR segments, and SatVu's newly hired CTO previously served as BlackSky's CTO.
• HawkEye 360: HawkEye 360 operates a constellation of satellites that collects RF signal geolocation data for defence, intelligence and commercial applications. It is a comparable commercial EO/SIGINT constellation operator selling mission-critical data to allied governments alongside SatVu, and both compete for similar defence and intelligence budget lines.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/satellitevu
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/satellitevu

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds7 records

Investors16 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about SatVu