The Marble Imaging management team Robert Hook, Dr. Gopika Suresh, and Alexander Epp. Photo: Marble Imaging

Marble Imaging, a new German Earth Observation (EO) company, has raised 5.3 million euro ($6.1 million) in its latest seed funding round. The first Marble satellite, which will deliver very high-resolution multispectral data, is scheduled to be launched late next year. Marble Imaging plans to gradually expand its own constellation to up to 20 satellites by the end of 2028. The company has now exceeded its initial funding targets.

High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), an active early-stage investor in Germany and Europe, led the round announced Dec. 1. HTGF finances startups in the fields of deep tech, industrial tech, climate tech, digital tech, life sciences and chemistry.

Marble Imaging was founded just over two years ago, following more than 10 million euro ($11.6 million) in non-dilutive funding and the signing of Marble’s first anchor contract with the European Space Agency (ESA) valued at 3 million euro ($3.5 million).

The company, a big-data EO company, out of Bremen, Germany, aims to build a constellation of very high resolution (VHR) satellites to provide up to hourly EO data and analytics for time critical insights of Earth. It believes the data and derived EO-based analytics will be vital in supporting rapid decision-making with regard to defence, climate security, crises and disaster management, green and sustainable energy transitions, infrastructure and mobility and much more. The company already offers advanced data analysis services, including object detection for situational intelligence, terrain analytics and trafficability assessment, coastal asset monitoring and land cover classification.

“We’re very happy to welcome a strong European investor consortium that will help drive the growth of our dual-use Earth Observation solutions. With this round, we can speed up the enhancement of our capabilities to keep pace with rapidly rising demand,” Robert Hook, CEO and co-founder of Marble Imaging, said in a statement.