Impact Observatory Secures $5.9M Seed Round to Bring AI-powered Space-based Monitoring for Sustainability, Climate, and Environmental Risk

WASHINGTON, March 29, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Impact Observatory, a leader in AI-powered global mapping and monitoring, announced today that its seed funding round has closed, raising more than $5.9M. The funding will help accelerate Impact Observatory’s go-to-market for its AI-powered monitoring products for governments and commercial customers. The funding will also support ongoing research and development (R&D) to build additional monitoring capabilities utilizing the full spectrum of commercial space-based data sources.

The latest round included investment by Esri International LLC, an affiliate of Esri, the global leader in mapping and location intelligence. Impact Observatory’s maps are being released via Esri, Microsoft, Amazon, and the UN, and have been accessed over one million times.

“Companies that understand their environmental and climate impacts and can anticipate risks are starting to see significant rewards from investors, consumers, and regulators concerned about long term sustainability and climate change resiliency,” said Steve Brumby, Co-founder and CEO of Impact Observatory. “Impact Observatory’s AI-powered monitoring platform provides the timely, actionable data needed for decision makers to fulfill their sustainability initiatives.”

Impact Observatory’s data-as-a-service (DaaS) product seamlessly integrates space data and deep learning AI to map our changing world with the highest resolution and accuracy on the market. This novel data provides powerful insights that empower decision makers with the tools they need to to understand sustainability and environmental risks and anticipate change at unprecedented speed and scale, enabling customers to:

• Plan for sustainable livelihoods and food security: Impact Observatory monitors the health and impact of agriculture, and urban expansion, across an entire country or regional watershed.
• Protect carbon and reduce climate change: Impact Observatory algorithms enable more accurate measurement of carbon in changing landscapes and show the value of forests and wetlands that store carbon, protect coastal communities from disasters, and ensure clean water supplies.
• Protect and Restore biodiversity and ecosystem services: Impact Observatory data tracks environmental trends, threats, and the impact of actions to reduce biodiversity loss and maintain the clean food and water that healthy ecosystems provide.
  

The Impact Observatory team developed deep learning AI to create the first fully automated, high resolution map of the world, in near real time, released by Impact Observatory in partnership with Esri and Microsoft Azure Planetary Computer. An independent, peer-reviewed scientific study found that Impact Observatory’s map is the most accurate global map with an average accuracy of 85 percent [ref: Venter et al. 2022].

"Accessible maps of the planet are a fundamental tool for understanding the world, especially as the effects of climate change accelerate globally," said Jack Dangermond, president and founder of Esri. "We are proud to partner with Impact Observatory on its groundbreaking mapping and monitoring products that enable our users to see and monitor recent changes in land use, so they can take a geographic approach to decisions about food security, sustainable land use, resource management, and more."

Impact Observatory’s annual maps of the world are being used by customers, including Karingani Game Reserve, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and Pula Properties, among others. Additionally, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) selected Impact Observatory for a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant to advance the company’s technology as they see the promise in its fast, accurate, automated land use and land cover change monitoring.

Customer Quotes
“Impact Observatory’s AI-powered technology enables our team to easily see how the ecosystems in the Northern Tuli Game Reserve are changing, monitor the progress of our conservation efforts, and analyze changes in human development pressures in the vicinity,” said Grace Dovey, Environmental and Sustainability at Pula Limited.

“IFPRI is on a mission to provide research-based policy solutions that sustainably reduce poverty and end hunger and malnutrition,” said Jawoo Koo, Senior Research Fellow at International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). “The technology from Impact Observatory helps us further our mission by providing timely access to satellite-based automated maps of the extent of major crops, which gives us the ability to advise policy and prioritize investments using consistent, near-real-time insights across the globe.”

For more information or to order an Impact Observatory custom map now, visit: https://www.impactobservatory.com/monitoring_on_demand/.

Supporting Resources

• Impact Observatory website
• Impact Observatory maps on-demand
• Impact Observatory blog and news
• Esri, powered by Impact Observatory, high resolution map of the world
• Follow us on Twitter
• Join us on LinkedIn

About Impact Observatory
Impact Observatory is a mission-driven technology company bringing artificial intelligence (AI) powered algorithms and on-demand data to sustainability and environmental risk analysis for governments, non-profit organizations, companies, and markets. Founded in 2020 in Washington, DC, Impact Observatory’s goal is to empower global decision-makers to be planetary superheroes, with the timely, actionable science-based insights they need to succeed. Visit us at impactobservatory.com.

Media Contact
Kelly Hall
Offleash PR for Impact Observatory
[email protected]