VISTA Geowissenschaftliche Fernerkundung

What VISTA Geowissenschaftliche Fernerkundung does

VISTA Geowissenschaftliche Fernerkundung GmbH is a German remote sensing company founded in 1994, headquartered in Munich, with approximately 30 employees operating across Europe, Africa, and globally via its YPSGlobe service. The company builds operational digital services for sustainable agriculture and food security by combining satellite Earth observation with its two proprietary scientific assets: the PROMET physically-based crop growth model and the SLC radiative transfer model, which together derive plant parameters and yield forecasts even at biomass levels where standard NDVI-based services saturate.

The product portfolio is structured as a platform-plus-modules architecture centered on the Vista-GEO portal. Core product lines include TalkingFields smart farming services (NManager Pro for site-specific nitrogen fertilization, VariableRain for irrigation, Daily LAI, and site-specific biomass/yield/application maps), YPSILON and the newly launched YPSGlobe yield forecasting services for wheat, barley, rapeseed and corn, the Drought Monitor, a Carbon Farming MRV Tool, an Agri-PV yield impact assessment service, and the Crop Planning and Logistics Optimizer integrated with SAP Intelligent Agriculture. AI/ML methods augment the physics-based core for digital twinning, classification, anomaly detection and training-data generation across ongoing ESA projects (CHILL-Y, Rainbow, STELAR, INFER, HyperPin).

Revenue is generated primarily through tiered subscription services (e.g., YPSGlobe Professional at EUR 25,000 per season, Price Reaction Prognosis at EUR 50,000 per season), individual/consulting solutions, and OEM-style distribution via the SAP Intelligent Agriculture platform and the BayWa channel partnership. End markets span agricultural commodity traders, large agribusinesses and food companies, mills and processors, carbon certifiers and NGOs, government and ESA-aligned research, and the reinsurance industry. At the end of 2025 the original founders, Dr. Heike Bach and Prof. Wolfram Mauser, repurchased 100% of shares from BayWa AG, restoring full independence after the period as a BayWa subsidiary.

Name

VISTA Geowissenschaftliche Fernerkundung

Legal name

Vista Geowissenschaftliche Fernerkundung GmbH

Website

https://vista-geo.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

1994

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

VISTA is a German remote sensing company that uses satellite Earth observation with its proprietary PROMET crop growth model to deliver yield forecasting, drought, irrigation, fertilization, and carbon farming analytics to enterprise agribusiness, commodity traders, government, and platform partners such as SAP.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Satellite-based Agricultural Analytics

NAICS

Support Activities for Crop Production (1151), Farm Management Services (115116)

SIC

Agricultural Services (700), Services-Computer Processing & Data Preparation (7374)

akta.pro primary industry

Satellite Imagery & Monitoring Platforms (AFAAAFAI)

akta.pro secondary industries

Remote Sensing & Imaging (Satellite, UAV/Drone, Aerial, Multispectral/Hyperspectral) (AFAGALAC), Yield Monitoring & Harvest Data Analytics (AFABAMAF), Carbon, Sustainability & Traceability MRV (Field-Level Measurement/Reporting/Verification) (AFABAMAK), Agriculture & Land-Use MRV (Soil carbon, livestock, forestry/REDD+) (EUAHADAI)

Keywords

• Remote sensing agriculture
• Satellite crop monitoring
• Yield prediction services
• Precision farming analytics
• Earth observation software

Headquarters

HQ city

Munich

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Subscription-based SaaS Services: Vista offers recurring subscription services for yield prediction, drought monitoring, irrigation management, and carbon farming MRV delivered through the Vista-GEO platform.
2. TalkingFields Smart Farming Services: Cost-efficient smart farming services including fertilization, irrigation, and yield mapping delivered as subscription services.
3. YPSILON/YPSGlobe Yield Forecasting: Regional and global wheat yield prediction services with tiered pricing (free country-level, professional weekly forecasts at 25,000 EUR/season).
4. Individual Solutions and Consulting: Custom development of individual solutions for specific customer problems combining remote sensing data with digital twinning, modelling, and AI.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Vista operates a satellite Earth Observation and crop modeling platform that delivers operational digital services for sustainable farming and food security. Its proprietary PROMET physical crop growth model combined with remote sensing data powers subscription products including regional yield forecasting (YPSILON, YPSGlobe), drought monitoring, Daily LAI, smart irrigation (VariableRain), site-specific nitrogen fertilization (NManager Pro), carbon farming MRV, and Agri-PV yield impact assessment.

Product overview

Vista GmbH is an innovative remote sensing company with over 30 years of experience translating state-of-the-art scientific methods into operational digital services for sustainable farming and food security. The company offers a platform-plus-modules architecture centered on its proprietary PROMET physical crop growth model combined with satellite Earth Observation data. Core products include TalkingFields smart farming brand (VariableRain irrigation, NManager Pro fertilization, Daily LAI), YPSILON/YPSGlobe yield prediction services, Drought Monitor, Carbon Farming MRV Tool, and Agri-PV solutions. The Vista-GEO Platform serves as the central delivery mechanism for these services. Vista's Crop Planning and Logistics Optimizer integrates with SAP Intelligent Agriculture. The company also develops individual custom solutions such as Dry Matter Monitoring. All services leverage satellite data (Sentinel, EnMAP) processed through advanced algorithms and AI methods.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• TalkingFields: Smart farming services including fertilization, irrigation, and yield prediction. A proven, cost-efficient smart farming brand offering site-specific agricultural services.
• YPSILON
• YPSGlobe
• VariableRain
• Vista-GEO Platform
• NManager Pro

Products and services

• YPSILON Yield Prediction by Satellite: regional yield forecasting service for wheat, barley, rapeseed, and corn across 17+ EU countries, UK, Serbia, and Ukraine. Delivers weekly updates up to 8 weeks before harvest using PROMET crop growth model combined with satellite imagery and weather data. Targeted at agricultural commodity traders, mills, seed growers, biogas plant operators, and agro holdings.
• YPSGlobe Global wheat yield intelligence service providing worldwide yield and production forecasts by combining Earth Observation, geo and weather data with the PROMET crop growth model and AI-based methods. Creates digital twins for agriculture with statistically robust, high-resolution forecasts updated weekly up to eight weeks before harvest. Includes a free country-level tier and a professional 25,000 EUR/season tier, plus a 50,000 EUR/season price reaction prognosis tier.
• VariableRain Irrigation Service Satellite data and model-based irrigation management service that delivers crop water demand for the next 7 days in mm, green leaf area, and the first day of water stress per field. Uses the SLC radiative transfer model and PROMET to optimize irrigation timing and prioritization.
• TalkingFields NManager Pro Cereals Site-specific nitrogen fertilization service combining biomass and chlorophyll content mapping from Sentinel-2 with yield potential data. Delivers site-specific nitrogen requirement maps in kg N/ha dynamically adjusted over the season, available worldwide from 1 ha field size. Results validated by FH Kiel and DLG.
• TalkingFields Daily LAI Daily green Leaf Area Index service providing values in m²/m² at 10x10m resolution. Innovative algorithms fill cloud and image gaps to enable daily delivery; provided as WMS service with Time Dimension for platform integration.
• Drought Monitor Agricultural drought monitoring service that uses satellite-derived LAI as input for the PROMET crop growth model to detect water stress from a plant perspective. Anticipates potential yield loss by evaluating meteorological data and crop phenological development. Available throughout Europe and operationalized through BayWa.
• Carbon Farming MRV Tool Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) tool for carbon farming measures. Integrates satellite data (including Copernicus) with field data and the PROMET model to monitor carbon in plant and soil, report on required measures such as crop rotation and catch crop planting, and verify impact. Available via API or email. Targets carbon certifiers, governmental agencies, NGOs, and agri/food industry.
• Agri-PV Solution Agricultural photovoltaic yield prediction service that uses the PROMET crop growth model with a Vista Agri-PV shading addon to quantify the effects of Agri-PV shading on crop yields. Designed for photovoltaics planners and project companies evaluating dual land use.
• Crop Planning and Logistics Optimizer Enterprise solution that provides yield prediction up to 8 weeks prior to harvest, quality parameter predictions, aggregation for risk assessment, virtual harvest information, and site-specific yield mapping to optimize planning and logistics for agriculture and food industries. Integrated with SAP Intelligent Agriculture and available on the SAP App Store.
• Cultivation Patterns / Crop Classification Land use classification and crop pattern detection service using characteristic spectral information from satellite data. Distinguishes winter and summer crops, derives crop cycles, and provides in-season classification including large-area cultivation mapping for geographies such as Ukraine at regional administrative levels.
• TalkingFields Site-specific Services Site-specific agricultural services offering Base Map (multi-year biomass patterns), Biomass Map (small-scale absolute biomass distribution), Yield Map (harvest-date yield information), and Application Maps for site-specific measures. Map-overlay technique validated at approximately 50 EUR/ha excess profit.
• Dry Matter Monitoring for Silage Maize Custom individual solution that provides current dry matter content maps and ripening development prognoses for silage maize fields at 10x10m resolution, enabling farmers to plan silage harvest with weekly updates from August to October using weather forecast-based development calculations.

Quantifiable outcome

• Yield prediction accuracy validated through weekly updates up to 8 weeks before harvest
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers7 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

Integration6 records

AI capability10 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

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

• SAPcoreTechnology or Integration · 12 September 2023SAP and Vista partnership announced September 2023 enables agribusiness and food companies to leverage Vista's crop predictions informed by proprietary crop growth and digital twin models within SAP Intelligent Agriculture. The integrated solution is available now with Crop Planning and Logistics Optimizer listed on SAP App Store.
• BayWa AGcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorBayWa AG was a former shareholder (acquired shares end of 2025, now fully repurchased by founders Dr. Heike Bach and Prof. Wolfram Mauser). BayWa distributes drought monitor services and partners on smart irrigation solutions. BayWa provided funding for ESA projects and Ukraine agricultural analysis.
• European Space Agency (ESA)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerESA funds multiple Vista projects including CHILL-Y (hyperspectral mission preparation), Rainbow (hyperspectral instrument development), INFER (AI for food security), and various other initiatives. Vista leads the CHILL-Y project and participates in Sentinel preparation activities.
• LMU Munich, Dept. for GeographycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerProject coordinator for YPSGlobe project (Space Agency of the German Aerospace Center funded). Long-standing research collaboration in Earth observation and geospatial analytics.
• AirbusmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAirbus is prime contractor for Rainbow hyperspectral instrument project where Vista develops innovative data fusion concepts for commercial agricultural applications. Also collaborates on EnMAP mission activities.
• acatech - National Academy of Science and EngineeringminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerVista contributed to acatech expert report 'Space and Space Applications – Climate Protection, Energy and Agriculture' released April 2026 as part of Innovationsplattform Bayern.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Market position

Competitive moat5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/vista_geosciences
• Xx.com/vista_geo
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/vistaremotesensingingeosciencesgmbh

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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 VISTA Geowissenschaftliche Fernerkundung