What ExoLabs does

ExoLabs GmbH is a Zurich-based Earth Observation company founded in 2017 as a spin-off of the University of Zurich. The company develops tailored software solutions, data products, and scientific services based on geospatial and remote sensing data, targeting private and public-sector clients including hydropower operators, government agencies, insurance firms, infrastructure planners, and forestry organizations. Its core technical proposition is near real-time satellite data processing at global scale with daily temporal resolution and 20m spatial resolution, layered on top of multiple data sources and proprietary modeling that integrates topographic and contextual information.

The product portfolio spans four named offerings: COSMOS (daily maps of snow cover, snow depth, and snow-water-equivalent), ExoSilva (near real-time forest disturbance detection and annual forest height re-analysis for Switzerland), Exo3D (high-precision 3D visualizations built from cadastral and cartographic data for planning and communication), and ADELE (deep-learning classifiers for 99 land use/land cover categories used by the Swiss government). Revenue mechanics are predominantly B2B SaaS subscriptions and project-based implementations, including the CHF 1.7M SnoWE project for hydropower firms targeting up to 140 installations over five years. The team consists of 1-10 employees, all with advanced degrees in remote sensing, geomatics, or data science, and the company operates through direct enterprise and government sales channels supported by an ecosystem of academic (UZH, ETH/ECOVISION, FHNW, SLF/WSL, HSLU) and institutional (ESA, SSC, BFS, MeteoSwiss, SwissRe, Energie360) partners.

The business is privately held, with no disclosed institutional venture funding beyond public innovation grants such as the approximately $1.86M Eurostars award in 2021, and ownership appears concentrated among the founding team and a developer-shareholder. Geographic focus is Europe (primarily Switzerland), with emerging exposure to broader European EO applications through the E-SHAPE platform and ESA Business Partnership.

Name

ExoLabs

Legal name

ExoLabs GmbH

Website

https://exolabs.ch

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

ExoLabs is a Zurich-based Earth Observation company, spun out of the University of Zurich in 2017, that builds satellite-data SaaS products for snow monitoring, forest health, land use classification, and 3D visualization, serving hydropower operators, Swiss government agencies, insurers, and infrastructure planners.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Earth Observation & Geospatial Analytics Software

NAICS

Geophysical Surveying and Mapping Services (541360)

akta.pro primary industry

Satellite Imagery & Remote Sensing Geospatial Platforms (BPAMANAM)

akta.pro secondary industries

Remote Sensing & Geospatial Vision (satellite/drone imagery) (HDAAAEAL), Climate Data Measurement & IoT/Telemetry Enablement (Energy/Meter/Asset Data Ingest) (EUABAEAI), Satellite Imagery & Monitoring Platforms (AFAAAFAI), Alternative Data Providers (Web, Satellite, Geolocation, ESG Signals) (FSAFAIAH)

Keywords

• Earth observation software
• Satellite data processing
• Geospatial analytics platform
• Snow monitoring solutions
• Remote sensing services

Headquarters

HQ city

Zürich

HQ country

Switzerland

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. SaaS Platform Subscriptions: Cloud-based software solutions delivered as subscription services for snow monitoring, forest health, and other geospatial products. SnowWE project represents a major B2B SaaS implementation for hydropower companies.
2. Software Solutions and Data Products: Tailored software solutions, data products, and scientific know-how based on geospatial and remote sensing data.
3. Project-based Implementation: Funded research projects like SnoWE (CHF 1.7 million) provide revenue through project implementation and deployment of monitoring solutions for enterprise clients.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

ExoLabs provides tailored software solutions, data products, and scientific know-how based on geospatial and remote sensing data. The company develops and operates Earth observation platforms that process near real-time satellite imagery to deliver four core products: COSMOS (daily snow cover, depth, and water-equivalent maps), ExoSilva (forest health and disturbance monitoring), Exo3D (high-precision 3D visualizations from cadastral and cartographic data), and ADELE (deep learning classifiers for land use/land cover classification). Offerings are delivered as B2B SaaS solutions to hydropower firms, government agencies, insurers, and infrastructure operators.

Product overview

ExoLabs provides tailored software solutions, data products, and scientific know-how based on geospatial and remote sensing data. The company offers four core products: COSMOS for snow monitoring (snow cover, depth, and water equivalent), ExoSilva for forest health monitoring, Exo3D for 3D visualization of cadastral and cartographic data, and ADELE for land use/land cover classification using deep learning. All products leverage satellite imagery and geospatial data processing, with ExoLabs specializing in near real-time satellite data processing on a global scale.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• COSMOS: Daily Maps of Snow Cover, Snow Height and Snow-Water-Equivalent satellite product providing global snow monitoring data.
• ExoSilva
• Exo3D
• ADELE

Products and services

• COSMOS

Quantifiable outcome

• Daily snow cover, depth, and water equivalent maps with 20m resolution
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability4 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• University of Zurich (UZH)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerExoLabs was founded in 2017 as a spin-off of the University of Zurich. Ongoing research collaboration with UZH's innovation office.
• FHNW (University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with FHNW Institute of Geomatics on land use/land cover classification (ADELE project) and arealstatistik research.
• ESA (European Space Agency)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerESA Business Partnership providing access to satellite data and Earth observation resources.
• ECOVISION (ETH Zurich)coreTechnology or IntegrationResearch collaboration with ETH Zurich's ECOVISION group for environmental monitoring technology.
• SLF (Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration on snow and forest research with SLF, part of WSL.
• WSL (Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerResearch partnership on forest and landscape monitoring.
• SwissRemajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerInsurance industry partnership for risk modeling and index insurance solutions using geospatial data.
• BFS (Swiss Federal Statistical Office)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with Swiss Federal Statistical Office for land use statistics and government data services.
• SSC (Swiss Space Office)majorTechnology or IntegrationSpace innovation partnership through Swiss Space Office for satellite data applications.
• Energie360minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEnergy sector collaboration for renewable resource monitoring.
• HSLU (Lucerne School of Technology)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic partnership with HSLU for research collaboration.
• E-SHAPEminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEuropean EO-based application platform adding pilots to their portfolio of Earth observation solutions.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• LiveEO: European-headquartered satellite-analytics SaaS focused on infrastructure, vegetation, and forestry monitoring; competes head-on with Exo3D, ExoSilva, and asset-management use cases.
• Preligens: Geospatial AI platform applying deep learning to satellite imagery for environmental and defense monitoring — directly comparable deep-learning-on-EO architecture to ADELE.
• Descartes Labs: Geospatial analytics platform that ingests satellite imagery and turns it into predictive models for agriculture, energy, and sustainability — directly comparable to ExoLabs' SaaS layer over Earth observation data.
• Orbital Insight: Applies AI to satellite imagery to deliver geospatial intelligence for energy, insurance, and government buyers, overlapping with ExoLabs' insurance (SwissRe), government, and infrastructure use cases.
• Satelytics: AI-on-satellite-imagery platform serving industrial asset management, environmental compliance, and forestry — directly comparable to ExoLabs' per-pixel analytics products.
• SkyWatch: Earth observation data marketplace and analytics API layer for developers and enterprises — a comparable distribution model for monetizing satellite-derived geospatial data.
• Kayrros: Asset-level environmental and energy analytics built on satellite and sensor data, including emissions and resource monitoring — comparable to ExoLabs' GHG/snow/land monitoring value proposition for industrial and government customers.

Emerging players

• Pixxel: Hyperspectral satellite operator building analytics applications for agriculture, forestry, and environmental monitoring — emerging EO SaaS player with adjacent vertical coverage.

Broad incumbents

• Maxar Technologies: Leading provider of high-resolution commercial satellite imagery and derived geospatial products, including government and defense — represents the upper end of the EO market ExoLabs competes in.
• Planet Labs: Global operator of a large commercial satellite constellation offering imagery plus analytics — a much larger incumbent with overlapping capabilities across all four of ExoLabs' product lines.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/exolabs

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors2 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 ExoLabs