The Earth Genome

What The Earth Genome does

The Earth Genome is a US-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2015 and headquartered in Mill Valley/San Francisco, operating a small (1-10 employee) cross-disciplinary team of data scientists, geospatial scientists, and engineers drawn from organizations including The Nature Conservancy, National Geographic, Mapbox, Planet, USGS, Google X, and the White House. The organization builds AI-powered platforms that translate Earth observation data into actionable environmental intelligence for environmental journalists, scientists, conservation NGOs, policymakers, and government agencies. Its flagship product, Earth Index, is a free web application that uses satellite imagery foundation models (SSL4EO, AlphaEarth) and a proprietary 320 sq meter embedding pipeline to let users train classifiers or run nearest-neighbor searches over global Sentinel-2 imagery, returning environmental detections in days rather than months.

The portfolio extends well beyond Earth Index into domain-specific platforms, including Climate TRACE (realtime facility-level GHG emissions across 70,000 highest-emitting sites), Global Food Twin (supply-chain modeling across 3,787 subnational regions and 82 commodities), Amazon Mining Watch, Global Plastics Watch, ctrees (forest carbon), RechargeIQ and GRAT (managed aquifer recharge), the Storm Events Database (~2M NOAA records), Seagrass, WasteMAP, Global Energy Monitor, and The Margin environmental-justice media platform. Core technical infrastructure is open-sourced on GitHub across Go, Python, Rust, and TypeScript implementations of MajorTom Grid, with embeddings distributed via STAC catalog, GeoParquet, Amazon S3, and Source.coop, and energy-use metadata captured for transparency.

Revenue is sourced from donations and grants rather than product fees; Earth Index is offered free in an Open tier to any user globally and in an application-gated Full tier with Deep Search and API access for high-impact environmental users. Funders span Google.org, AWS, Bezos Earth Fund, Rockefeller Foundation, Moore Foundation, Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, Allen Family Philanthropies, Schmidt Family Foundation, Minderoo, Pulitzer Center, ClimateWorks, NSF, Mozilla, and McCaw Family Foundation. Go-to-market is community-led and event-driven, with co-creation alongside scientists (Climate TRACE), journalists (Mongabay, ProPublica), and policymakers (US State Department, USACE), supported by content marketing, open-source developer relations, and conferences including COP30, Data Harvest, and the Africa Mining Watch Mapathon.

Name

The Earth Genome

Legal name

The Earth Genome

Website

https://earthgenome.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Earth Genome is a US 501(c)(3) nonprofit that builds AI-powered satellite imagery platforms, led by Earth Index, to deliver environmental intelligence to journalists, scientists, conservation organizations, policymakers, and government agencies worldwide, funded by foundation grants and donations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Environmental Monitoring Software

NAICS

Environmental Consulting Services (541620), Web Search Portals and All Other Information Services (51929), Geophysical Surveying and Mapping Services (54136)

akta.pro primary industry

Remote Sensing & Geospatial MRV (Satellite, Aerial, LiDAR, SAR) (EUABACAF)

akta.pro secondary industries

Carbon, Sustainability & MRV Platforms (GHG Accounting, Regenerative Ag) (AFAAAFAK), Climate & Emissions Data Management (Data Lake, Integration, APIs) (EUABAEAC), Soil & Biomass Carbon Measurement (Soil Sampling, Forest Inventory, Blue Carbon) (EUABACAH), Agriculture & Land-Use MRV (Soil carbon, livestock, forestry/REDD+) (EUAHADAI)

Keywords

• Satellite imagery analysis
• Environmental monitoring software
• Geospatial AI platform
• Earth observation data
• Climate data analytics

Headquarters

HQ city

Mill Valley

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Donations and Grants: Earth Genome operates as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Revenue comes from donations and grants. The website explicitly states 'Your donation fuels the research, tech, and collaboration behind lasting environmental impact.' Financial supporters include foundations and philanthropies.
2. Grant-Funded Project Work: Many projects are funded through specific grants from organizations like Climate Works Foundation, Google.org, and Patrick J. McGovern Foundation. Projects are developed in close partnership with researchers, policy makers, and technologists.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

The Earth Genome is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that builds AI-powered geospatial software platforms for environmental monitoring. Its core product, Earth Index, applies foundation models to satellite imagery (Sentinel-2, SSL4EO/AlphaEarth embeddings) so users can extract an area's environmental 'genetic signature' and locate features such as mining sites, cattle pens, or deforestation in days rather than months. Earth Genome also develops and operates specialized platforms including Climate TRACE, Global Food Twin, Amazon Mining Watch, Global Plastics Watch, ctrees, RechargeIQ, GRAT, and others.

Product overview

The Earth Genome is a nonprofit that develops a portfolio of environmental monitoring platforms and tools using AI, satellite imagery, and earth observation data. The core product is Earth Index, an AI-powered search tool for satellite imagery that enables users to find environmental features anywhere on the planet. Earth Genome also builds and supports specialized platforms including Climate TRACE (emissions monitoring), Food Twin (global food supply chain modeling), Amazon Mining Watch, Global Plastics Watch, and Global Energy Monitor. Additional platforms address water management (RechargeIQ, GRAT, Storm Events Database), biodiversity (Seagrass, ctrees), and agricultural systems. The portfolio is built on shared technology infrastructure including foundation models for satellite imagery, Earth observation processing, and data visualization capabilities.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Earth Index: A search tool for the environment that harnesses satellite imagery and machine learning to extract an area's 'genetic signature'. Allows users to obtain environmental insights in a day instead of months.
• Climate TRACE
• Amazon Mining Watch
• Global Plastics Watch
• ctrees
• Food Twin
• Recharge IQ
• WasteMAP

Products and services

• Earth Index AI-powered search tool for the environment that applies foundation models to satellite imagery so journalists, scientists, conservationists, and policymakers can locate environmental features (e.g., mining, deforestation, cattle pens) across the planet in days instead of months. Available as a free Open tier for anyone and a free Full tier for approved high-impact users.
• Climate TRACE AI-powered platform for real-time greenhouse gas emissions reporting across major economic sectors. Earth Genome designs and builds the production website and data infrastructure, mapping the 70,000 highest emitting facilities worldwide.
• Global Food Twin

Quantifiable outcome

• Insights obtained in days instead of months
• +6 more outcomes

Named customers14 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability7 records

Feature7 records

Partnerships

18 partnerships are on record, tiered flagship and major.

• Climate TRACE CoalitionflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerStrategic partnership to build and maintain Climate TRACE - an AI-powered platform for realtime GHG emissions reporting. Earth Genome designs and builds the production website and data infrastructure. Collaboration identified nearly 400,000 large-scale livestock facilities.
• MongabayflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerInvestigative partnership with environmental news organization. Together detected 67 clandestine airstrips in Peruvian Amazon used for drug transport, threatening Indigenous communities. Mongabay publishes investigations using Earth Index findings.
• Pulitzer CenterflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership through Pulitzer Center's Rainforest Investigations Network for Amazon Mining Watch. The two nonprofit organizations joined forces to bring machine learning and investigative journalism together for environmental problems in the Amazon.
• Clean Air Task Force (CATF)majorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerEarth Genome built an interactive map for Clean Electricity Standards across states, making CATF's policy analysis accessible to other states adapting policies.
• Conservation InternationalmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration to explore using AI to build a specialized advisor that translates complex biodiversity standards into actionable steps for framework selection, project design, and monitoring.
• The Nature Conservancy (TNC)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for seagrass mapping methodology development, fine-tuning remote sensing AI models for 4 pilot geographies, and creating maps of seagrass extent, change, threats, and carbon stocks.
• US State Department and AgMIPmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerBuilt Vision for Adapted Crops and Soils Explorer with US State Department and Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project to address food security in Africa through investment in resilient, nutritious indigenous crops.
• Stanford UniversitymajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerResearch collaboration with Stanford University researchers to develop high-resolution, up-to-date land-use maps for dengue risk assessment in Costa Rica, capturing fine-scale habitat variation relevant to disease transmission.
• U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Arizona State UniversitymajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration to develop Recharge IQ, which identifies suitable locations for using excess floodwater for beneficial and practical groundwater recharge. ASU hydrologists determined suitability factors including hydraulic conductivity and aquifer drawdown.
• Sustainable ConservationmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to develop the Groundwater Recharge Assessment Tool (GRAT) for identifying locations suitable for managed aquifer recharge in California.
• Saint Louis University Remote Sensing LabmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerResearch partnership for cattle facility mapping globally. SLU handles modeling, developed the Bovine Slurry Index (BSI) for detecting cattle pens using hyperspectral data. Partnership covered half of top 30 countries in cattle methane emissions.
• Better Planet Laboratory at University of Colorado BoulderflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to launch Global Food Twin - a digital twin modeling supply chains across the entire world's food system. Tracks calories from farm to fork across oceans and borders.
• Development SeedmajorTechnology or IntegrationPartner that built the majority of the Global Food Twin web application. Led extensive design sprint for the platform.
• Internet of Water and The CommonsmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to transform nearly 2 million NOAA storm records into a discoverable platform for decision-makers nationwide - the Storm Events Database.
• The Circulate InitiativemajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to redesign The Plastic Lifecycle Assessment Calculator for the Environment and Society (PLACES), which assesses climate impact of waste management practices in South and Southeast Asia and Latin America.
• shift7 and Princeton University's Program on Science and Global SecuritymajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerClient for Revisiting Nuclear Test Fallout project. Partnership to reconstruct and visualize radionuclide deposition for re-evaluation of public health and environmental impacts from atmospheric nuclear testing.
• earthrise educationmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to build educational platform using collaborative mapping and satellite imagery to support real-world investigations for students.
• Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team (HOT)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerComplementary approach to conservation. Earth Genome adopts HOT's socio-technical approach and integrates OpenStreetMap data for the 'cold start' problem in Earth Index searches.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Sylvera: Commercial MRV provider focused on nature-based solutions and forest carbon using satellite and AI; overlaps with Earth Genome's Climate TRACE livestock/seagrass/forest work in MRV methodology.
• Global Forest Watch (World Resources Institute): WRI-hosted deforestation and land-use monitoring platform; a benchmark for combining satellite data, near-real-time alerts, and an open web app for journalists and policymakers.
• Global Fishing Watch: Nonprofit that similarly combines satellite imagery, AI, and open data platforms to monitor and publicly expose environmental activity (here, fishing fleets) at planetary scale.
• Climate TRACE Coalition: Coalition Earth Genome both 'designs and builds' the production site and data infrastructure for; functionally a sister project in facility-level GHG emissions MRV using satellite and AI.
• Development Seed: Earth observation and data infrastructure consultancy that built the Global Food Twin web application for Earth Genome; competes in the same geospatial-AI engineering niche.
• Pachama: Carbon project marketplace backed by satellite-based MRV of forests; comparable problem space (satellite AI + carbon/forest data) and a similar mission-aligned positioning.

Broad incumbents

• World Resources Institute (WRI): Large environmental research nonprofit that houses Global Forest Watch; sets the standard for combining satellite monitoring with global policy and research outputs.
• Planet Labs: Commercial satellite operator and geospatial analytics platform with far broader capital and infra; provides underlying imagery and analytics that Earth Genome builds on and competes alongside.
• Microsoft AI for Earth: Microsoft's AI-for-environment program grants and cloud APIs addressing habitat, agriculture, climate, and water; similar mission, much larger capital base.
• Google Earth Engine (Google.org): Hyperscaler-scale geospatial processing platform used by environmental researchers; a benchmark incumbent whose Earth AI/GenAI initiatives partially overlap with Earth Index.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• GitHubgithub.com/earth-genome
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-earth-genome
• Xx.com/EarthGenome

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds4 records

Investors3 records

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M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about The Earth Genome