The world is changing. Where we live, how we move, the energy we can consume, and the infrastructure we use — all are transforming. We’re also experiencing the effects of climate change every day with more extreme temperatures, droughts, floods, wildfires, and tropical storms. Quality insights and wide coverage of these changes are critical to finding solutions — the faster, the better. However, options like satellites, aircraft, and drones are typically unable to deliver imagery with both quality and coverage at affordable prices. That’s why I’m excited to announce that, as part of our Frontier Fund, Toyota Ventures has invested in Near Space Labs, a geospatial imaging company that’s disrupting the industry with higher quality, greater coverage, and faster refresh, at lower costs.
Near Space Labs produces Swiftys, an autonomous wind and software-powered platform that operates in the stratosphere between 60,000 and 85,000 feet and collects up to 1,000 square kilometers of imagery per flight. The imagery, with a resolution of 22 cm — 30 cm per pixel, is processed by Near Space Labs and delivered to the end customer through their API. The quality of the images is up to 50x sharper than satellite imagery and costs are 30–45% lower than aircraft imagery, without any emissions. Swiftys can be flown five times a day, delivering both quality and coverage with a refresh frequency that competing solutions just can’t offer.
CEO Rema Matevosyan, CTO Ignasi Lluch, and Chief Engineer Albert Caubet founded Near Space Labs in 2017. The company has offices in New York and Barcelona. The company has already flown over 150 missions, capturing more than 600,000 images. The applications are numerous, ranging from conservation to urban planning to post-disaster property inspections. Images can be used for machine learning training models to detect objects and track change, such as the number of cars in a parking lot — helpful when planning a smarter city.
Rema has an exciting vision to drive faster innovation at a lower cost, and Near Space Labs is expanding its Swifty fleet and upgrading the resolution of its images to 7–10 cm per pixel. What’s compelling about this technology is its scalability — Swiftys are significantly easier and faster to manufacture, launch, and monitor than satellites or aircraft, while providing more coverage than drones. Speed is a startup’s true superpower, and it’s thrilling to watch Rema and the Near Space Labs team move so quickly to disrupt this industry.
We’re proud to help accelerate the Near Space Labs’ mission by participating in the company’s Series A round, led by Crosslink Capital. If you’re interested in joining the team, check out Near Space Labs’ open roles. Visit the Near Space Labs website and the Toyota Ventures portfolio page to learn more.