Terrabyte
TerraByte builds foundation models and a JSON REST API that enable natural language queries across decades of satellite imagery and real-time Earth sensor data, serving enterprise, government, journalism, climate research, and developer use cases from San Francisco.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2025
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Terrabyte does
TerraByte is building a foundation-model-powered "Earth search engine" that lets users query decades of satellite imagery and real-time Earth sensor streams using natural language. The platform ingests more than 15 million events per day across categories such as wildfires, storms, infrastructure changes, and environmental shifts, with stated latency of approximately 0.4 seconds from satellite to API. A single JSON REST endpoint at portal.terrabyte.ai returns ranked tile matches with latitude, longitude, year, and a relevance score; the dashboard runs on the same API exposed to customers. The company was founded in 2023 by Rishi Madhok (CEO, ex-Microsoft Planetary Computer / Uber ATG) and Fuxun Yu (CTO, ex-Microsoft Geospatial Foundational Model lead), and is based in San Francisco. The product architecture is designed to run from ground-based archive imagery through to onboard satellite compute as orbital GPUs become available.
The product surface spans four named offerings: TerraByte AI (core engine), the TerraByte API (developer REST endpoint), the TerraByte Portal (account and key management), and TerraNews Map (a real-time satellite news sub-product integrating Esri, Maxar, and Earthstar Geographics feeds). Go-to-market is API-first and product-led, with a self-serve research Alpha and an enterprise onboarding path via [email protected]; production API keys are provisioned during onboarding. The company cites target customers across Big Tech enterprise (data center site scouting), government and city officials (wildfire response, urban planning), journalists (investigative and environmental reporting), climate scientists (icecap and environmental monitoring), and developers building geospatial applications. Revenue figures, paying customer logos, and institutional investors beyond the 2025-12-19 round with Ascend and PSL Ventures are not disclosed.
Terrabyte firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Terrabyte
- Legal name
- TerraByte
- Website
- https://terrabyte.ai/
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2025
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- TerraByte builds foundation models and a JSON REST API that enable natural language queries across decades of satellite imagery and real-time Earth sensor data, serving enterprise, government, journalism, climate research, and developer use cases from San Francisco.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Terrabyte industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Geospatial Intelligence / Earth Observation AI
- NAICS
- Surveying and Mapping (except Geophysical) Services (541370)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Computer Integrated Systems Design (7373)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Satellite Imagery & Remote Sensing Geospatial Platforms (BPAMANAM)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- GIS & Spatial Data Management Platforms (BPAMANAK), Remote Sensing & Earth Observation Analytics (Satellite/UAV/LiDAR, Image Processing) (EUAHAKAD)
Keywords
Where Terrabyte is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
Terrabyte business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- API Access & Platform Access: Access to the TerraByte API and platform, with production API keys and dashboards provisioned during onboarding. Early research Alpha available via self-serve sign-up. Commercial availability appears to be in production/onboarding stages.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Research Alpha (Early Access) |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels5 records
Terrabyte product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Terrabyte builds foundation models and a secure mission platform that lets users query live satellite imagery and global event streams using natural language. The platform combines real-time geospatial ingestion (over 15M events per day at approximately 0.4-second latency), predictive AI for environmental forecasting, and a single JSON REST API that returns ranked tile matches with coordinates and relevance scores, replacing the need for specialist analysts and disconnected tooling.
Product overview
TerraByte offers a unified Earth intelligence platform built around its core 'Earth Search Engine' product. The platform consists of the TerraByte AI core engine (TerraByte AI), a developer-facing JSON REST API (TerraByte API), a web-based user portal for account and API key management (TerraByte Portal), and a real-time news visualization interface (TerraNews Map). These products share the underlying foundation models and infrastructure, with the API powering both customer integrations and the company's own dashboard. The platform processes satellite and aerial imagery using natural language queries, delivering results with sub-second latency through a single JSON endpoint.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- TerraByte Portal: User portal for accessing TerraByte's Earth search engine API and managing accounts, located at portal.terrabyte.ai
- TerraNews Map
Products and services
- Terrabyte Earth Search Platform Core Terrabyte platform that lets users query live satellite imagery and global event streams using natural language; exposes both a web-based portal/UI and a JSON REST API (/api/search) that returns ranked tile matches with latitude, longitude, year, and relevance score. Designed for developers, enterprises, government/city officials, climate scientists, and journalists who need real-time geospatial intelligence without specialist analysts or disconnected toolchains.
- Terrabyte JSON REST API JSON REST API at https://portal.terrabyte.ai/api where POST /api/search accepts a natural-language query and returns ranked tile matches with latitude, longitude, year, and relevance score; powers both the Terrabyte dashboard and customer applications. Cookie-based session auth today; partner bearer tokens issued on request during onboarding. Consumable directly from any HTTP/JSON client (curl, Python requests, browser fetch) without an SDK.
- Terrabyte Portal Web-based portal at portal.terrabyte.ai for signing up, signing in (including Google OAuth), managing accounts, and accessing the research Alpha to run natural-language queries on live satellite imagery. Currently in early research preview.
- Terrabyte News Map Real-time satellite news and event visualization interface at news.terrabyte.ai that maps live open-source news feeds against real-time satellite imagery, enabling users to filter events by category and view a daily digest of global signals. Backed by satellite-data providers including Esri, Maxar, and Earthstar Geographics.
Quantifiable outcome
- Queries that previously took 48 hours with specialist analysts and disconnected tools now take one query and approximately 60 seconds
Companies that use Terrabyte
Customer profileSegments6 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Terrabyte technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration1 record
AI capability7 records
Feature6 records
Terrabyte partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators3 records
Recent moves3 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Terrabyte competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- BlackSky: Real-time geospatial intelligence provider combining its own satellite constellation with AI-driven event detection and analytics; targets defense, intelligence, and commercial customers with sub-hour delivery — directly overlapping TerraByte's real-time alert value proposition.
- SkyWatch: Earth observation data marketplace and API platform aggregating satellite imagery from multiple providers for developers and enterprise; comparable API-first distribution model targeting similar developer and enterprise buyers.
- Descartes Labs: Geospatial analytics platform applying ML to satellite imagery for agriculture, energy, and sustainability customers; comparable in applying foundation-model-style approaches to multi-source Earth observation data.
- Element 84: Geospatial AI/ML services firm working at scale on satellite imagery analytics (notably with AWS Open Data and NOAA datasets); comparable focus on turning Earth observation archives into developer-accessible ML pipelines.
- Planet Labs: Public satellite operator with the largest commercial imaging fleet, now layering analytics and AI on top of daily-cadence imagery — a direct competitor in real-time geospatial intelligence with substantially more capital and imagery ownership.
- UP42: Airbus-owned Earth observation platform offering API access to multiple satellite data sources plus analytics workflows; competes on developer-first access to geospatial imagery and processing.
- Google Earth Engine: Google's planetary-scale geospatial analysis platform combining petabyte-scale satellite archives with cloud-based analysis; competes head-to-head on the 'searchable Earth' thesis and shares the developer/analyst target audience.
- Microsoft Planetary Computer: Microsoft's geospatial AI platform built around the same Geospatial Foundational Model project TerraByte's CTO previously led; the closest direct competitor and the founders' prior employer, pursuing an identical mission of making Earth data queryable.
Broad incumbents
- Esri: GIS platform incumbent and an explicit data partner for TerraNews; competes in the broader geospatial intelligence stack with ArcGIS and is gradually adding AI/imagery-analysis capabilities relevant to TerraByte's roadmap.
- Maxar Technologies: One of TerraByte's named upstream imagery providers (Esri · Maxar · Earthstar Geographics) and a major incumbent in high-resolution satellite imagery; broader portfolio spans imagery, analytics, and defense services with overlapping enterprise/government customers.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Terrabyte financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Terrabyte leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
Terrabyte funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds1 record
Investors2 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Terrabyte M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Terrabyte
What does Terrabyte do?
Terrabyte builds foundation models and a secure mission platform that lets users query live satellite imagery and global event streams using natural language. The platform combines real-time geospatial ingestion (over 15M events per day at approximately 0.4-second latency), predictive AI for environmental forecasting, and a single JSON REST API that returns ranked tile matches with coordinates and relevance scores, replacing the need for specialist analysts and disconnected tooling.
Is Terrabyte a public or private company?
Terrabyte is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Terrabyte founded?
Terrabyte was founded in 2025. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Terrabyte based?
Terrabyte is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
How does Terrabyte make money?
One revenue line is on record: API Access & Platform Access.
Who are Terrabyte's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are BlackSky, SkyWatch, Descartes Labs, Element 84, Planet Labs, UP42, Google Earth Engine and Microsoft Planetary Computer. Broad incumbents are Esri and Maxar Technologies.
Does Terrabyte have an API?
Yes. TerraByte exposes a JSON REST API at https://portal.terrabyte.ai/api. POST /api/search accepts a natural-language query and returns ranked tile matches with latitude, longitude, year, and a relevance score. Authentication is via cookie-based session (signed-in user) today; partner bearer tokens are issued during onboarding. The API processes queries across satellite imagery archives and global event streams, delivering results with approximately 0.4-second latency. The dashboard runs on the same API that is available to users. No SDK required; any HTTP client that speaks JSON (curl, Python requests, browser fetch) can consume it directly. Developer documentation is at portal.terrabyte.ai/api.
What industry is Terrabyte in?
Terrabyte's product category is Geospatial Intelligence / Earth Observation AI. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAMANAM, Satellite Imagery & Remote Sensing Geospatial Platforms, with a secondary code of BPAMANAK, GIS & Spatial Data Management Platforms. Its NAICS code is 541370 and its SIC code is 7372.