We are thrilled that three Seraphim Portfolio companies have made this years Fast Company annual ranking of businesses that are making an outsize impact.
All these awesome companies have amazing stories and are brimming with insights into how organisations can make a meaningful impact to their teams, their industries, the planet and society at large.
The 10 most innovative companies in Europe, the Middle East and Africa in 2022
Iceye in at #2 For enabling more persistent monitoring of sites on the ground, from space
Radar satellite imaging company ICEYE, based in Espoo, Finland, has been helping customers in such fields as natural catastrophe response and recovery, insurance, maritime monitoring, security, and finance gather crucial surveillance data—in a timely enough manner so that they can act on it—since it was launched in 2014. Now it is giving them the visibility to act even faster. ICEYE’s Daily Coherent Ground Track Repeat (GTR) imaging system, launched in 2021, provides “coherent change detection” every 24 hours, four times more frequently than the previous industry standard, thanks to an adjustment in satellite orbit that allows images to be captured from the same place each day. The system, already in use by FEMA, NOAA, and several large insurance companies, will be rolled out widely in 2022. ICEYE also recently launched four additional satellites with SpaceX (for a total of 16), including one that’s been directed to increase ICEYE’s imaging resolution.
The 10 Most Innovative Companies of 2022 Reflecting Current Events
Edgy Bees in at #3 For extinguishing uncertainty for smokejumpers by providing intelligent geolocation data on wildfires
Last year, more than 54,000 wildfires burned nearly 7 million acres in North America. In April 2021, four-year-old technology company Edgybees announced a collaboration that combines its AI-powered software with sensors from Hood Tech Aero to produce superior geolocation data. The combined technology can enable firefighters battling infernos to accurately define blaze perimeters and key landmarks with greater precision. Utilizing satellite-generated geographical-positioning imagery along with computer vision and machine learning algorithms, the company asserts that its data is accurate to within one meter, compared with a variance of 150 meters for traditional telemetry solutions.
The 10 Most Innovative Space Companies
Astroscale in at #7 For cleaning up space
The Japanese startup Astroscale is the industry leader in orbital sustainability work. It debuted a new universal docking device in November, built to attach to satellites to help them be captured at the end of their missions. The device, designed with the goal of being used by all satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO), includes a standardized interface that can operate with both magnetic and robotic capture mechanisms. Astroscale’s new technology is an expansion of its End-of-Life Services for satellites, which completed a successful demonstration of satellite-capture technology in August. The new docking device is currently undergoing testing in LEO. Astroscale has raised more than $300 million to date, including $109 million in its most recent round of funding in November.
