Glasgow’s reputation as a hub for space technology continues to grow with the news that Bird.i, a startup which offers high quality satellite, airborne and drone imagery providing real-time data to businesses, has closed a $2.6 million (£2m) investment round.

The round was led by Accelerated Digital Ventures (ADV), and included a new investor, Concrete VC, as well as previous backers Frontline Ventures, Satellite Application Catapult Services and Scottish Investment Bank – the investment arm of Scottish Enterprise.

This funding round brings the total investment in the company to $3.3 million (£2.5m) and will enable Bird.i to scale its product portfolio and continue its global expansion.

Bird.i provides both cutting-edge imaging and intelligence services to give companies a real-time view of the world. The company claims that the quality and frequency of it’s images mean they are even more accurate and up-to-date than Google Maps and similar mapping services. In addition, the company uses proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) and computer vision techniques, such as unsupervised learning and similarity search, to extract insights faster, more accurately and at a much greater scale than the human eye.

Tracking Construction & Commodities

The company’s customers include business intelligence and investment firms, infrastructure operators, urban planners and facility managers. An early adopter of Bird.i technology was Thomson Reuters, which has integrated the service into its construction intelligence platform in order to track building projects in detail across cities, large regions and continents. Bird.i’s technology can also be used to measure crude oil storage at the tank, refinery or country level in real-time; as well as monitoring the transportation of commodities, such as grain, in order to build a detailed picture of supply and demand.

Corentin Guillo, the founder of Bird.i, said: “Bird.i’s ethos is that the important information found in images taken from space and our skies should be made more accessible, affordable and useable for all, to help businesses and individuals see a more accurate picture of our ever-changing world.

“This additional investment will enable us to continue developing our technology, grow the company and expand our product portfolio. As well as building on our existing offering, we believe there is huge potential for Bird.i to make an impact in additional industries, such as travel and tourism, and expand to mass market consumer services in the near future.”

Space Technology Investment

Michael Dimelow, Head of Investment at ADV, comments: “With Bird.i’s machine learning-powered image processing, a clear and refined view of the world is now accessible to businesses globally, and in a resolution never before achieved outside of military applications. Companies can now make realtime decisions about the progress of major construction and infrastructure projects, or the whereabouts of globally distributed assets such as fleets of vessels, or quantify barrels of oil reserves.

“We’re excited by the traction Bird.i is building, initially in the construction and financial services markets. The potential for the technology goes way beyond these areas, adding value in any sector where businesses need to track and understand static or dynamic assets.”