UK’s SatVu raises $41 million with NATO fund among backers

BRUSSELS, Feb 17 (Reuters) – British company SatVu, which uses satellites to provide high-resolution thermal imagery from space, has raised 30 million pounds ($40.8 million) in new funding, including backing from the NATO Innovation Fund (NIF), it said on Tuesday.

SatVu said this new funding round means it now has total equity investment of 60 million pounds to finance its expansion.

The capital injection into SatVu comes as Britain and Europe try to keep pace with the United States in satellite technology.

The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee passed legislation this month to speed up the approval of new satellites, while Eutelsat is trying to advance Europe’s satellite capabilities.

NIF, the British Business Bank, Space Frontiers Fund II and Presto Tech Horizons participated in SatVu’s latest funding round.

“SatVu was founded to give governments access to intelligence they cannot access elsewhere,” said SatVU CEO Anthony Baker in a statement.

“High-resolution thermal imagery from space reveals activity that is otherwise invisible – day and night – including heat signatures associated with operations inside and around buildings and critical infrastructure.”

NIF is a standalone venture capital fund backed by 24 North Atlantic Treaty Organization member nations.

($1 = 0.7349 pounds)

(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta)