The lidar satellite company won the "Wolf of Wall Street" strategic investment

Earth observation and geospatial technology company Nuview has raised $15 million in new funding. One of the most eye-catching points is that the well-known Hollywood star, Oscar-winning actor Leonardo DiCaprio (Leonardo DiCaprio), also appeared prominently on the list of investors.

(Screenshot from Nuview)

According to sources, the funding includes $3 million in seed funding and ongoing Series A funding, of which $12 million has been successfully "bagged." The round was led by MaC Venture Capital, and in addition to dicaprio, other investors included Broom Ventures, Cortado, Florida Funders, Industrious, Liquid2 and Veto Capital.

Create a complete 3D map of the Earth using lasers

Nuview hopes to use space-based light detection and ranging (lidar) technology to create a complete three-dimensional (3D) map of the Earth's surface. The company announced the plan at the Geospatial World Forum in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, in early May.

Nuview has designed a constellation of 20 liDAR satellites that will collect data more than 100 times faster than current commercial aviation solutions. The company already has a team of 21 employees who are building a new facility with Optics, Integration and laser LABS in Orlando, USA. According to the company, its geosurveying technology will provide "the first complete and highest resolution 3D point cloud on the Earth's surface."

An extraordinary investment

"We are thrilled to have Mr. Dicaprio's support, as well as the support of other environmentalists who share our values in addressing global environmental challenges," Nuview CEO and co-founder Clint Graumann said in a statement.

In a statement, dicaprio said, "Nuview's cutting-edge technology will stand out by generating high-resolution 3D images of the Earth's surface, designed to improve our ability to more accurately monitor and protect the planet." This unprecedented dataset will help scientists, policymakers and conservationists make more informed decisions and uncover valuable new insights in climate science."

According to reports, Leonardo dicaprio has made angel investments in many companies, and the performance of some of the invested companies is also remarkable, including the listed "artificial Meat" giant Beyond Meat and the US mattress unicorn brand Casper.

This investment in Nuview is his first investment in a space startup. When it announced the Lidar satellite constellation program early last month, the company declined to say how much money it had raised.

Founded in 2021, Nuview's business goal is to generate a centimeter-scale high-definition 3D map of the Earth's surface every year, a task that has previously elated both commercial companies and government entities. Considering the size, weight, and very high cost of liDAR systems on Earth, this task is incredibly challenging. However, Nuview CEO Clint Graumann revealed to foreign media in May this year that the company has made progress in the application of space-grade lidar systems and solved these problems.

Nuview also made it clear that it has secured a $1.2 billion contract agreement from a potential customer early to build its first commercial laser satellite constellation. This revenue ultimately depends on the technical specifications Nuview provides. In just over two years, Nuview plans to launch a spacecraft called Mr. Spoc's space proof-of-concept satellite, which will provide data to early adopters of Nuview.

Superior technology, luxury team lineup

Compared with the previous two methods of aircraft and drones, satellite map mapping has higher efficiency and comprehensive capability. At present, however, many satellite images only provide a 2D view of the Earth. It is estimated that only 5% of the Earth's land is covered by liDAR. Nuview's satellite, sensor and software technologies are designed to produce high-quality, accurate data with a broad market demand for applications in fields including climate and environmental science, infrastructure, agriculture and forestry, disaster relief and mitigation, and mapping. Nuview also sees the potential of sensors in spatial mapping and making end products more valuable by combining the data they generate with lasers.

To date, these types of liDAR data have typically been collected by airborne platforms and government satellites, such as NASA's IceSat-2, which launched in 2018. In recent years, however, a key sensor launched by the Nuview program has disrupted this situation.

In terms of team resources, Nuview has also reached the "luxury squad" level: Paul McManamon, the company's chief scientific officer and former chief scientist of the Air Force Research Laboratory's Sensor Directorate, has filed or received more than two dozen patents, many of which are related to optics and photonics. Jack Hild, former deputy director of source operations at the National geospatial intelligence Agency, is a senior adviser to the company. Patrick Baker, Nuview's chief technology officer, has done extensive research on aircraft-based liDAR.

Source: OFweek