An Edinburgh start-up is supercharging its ambitions with venture capital investment and two new high level appointments.

Space Intelligence, a NatureTech company specialising in using advanced data analytics to support forest conservation projects that mitigate climate change and conserve biodiversity, has secured initial funding from Equinor Ventures. 

Graeme Faulds joins the board as Chair. Graeme is a highly experienced private equity investor, formerly of NASDAQ and founder of software company TopQ.  Fatima Hadj, Head of the Climate Investment Centre at HSBC, joins as a non-executive director.

The company is using the investment to accelerate the expansion of their technologies in Artificial Intelligence and satellite data to support the digital monitoring and reporting on nature-based solutions for climate change.

“It is an enormous coup for Space Intelligence to have secured investment from high-profile VCs, and to have two such well-respected finance and climate experts join us,” said chief executive officer Dr Murray Collins. 

“The work we do at Space Intelligence combines the power of satellite data and sophisticated algorithms to assess the impact of forest conservation projects from local to national level, worldwide. The demand for this insight has been growing so fast that our team has seen a 10x growth in just three years. As Chair, Graeme is going to be an enormous support as we grow, while the expertise and networks of Fatima and Equinor Ventures will be instrumental in helping us further develop our products and services.” 

Equinor Ventures is Equinor’s corporate venture capital arm dedicated to investing in ambitious early-phase and growth companies. They believe that the innovation, creativity and agility of startups can drive change towards a low-carbon future.

“The world needs solutions like Space Intelligence to ensure reliable and verifiable data in carbon markets, and we look forward to working together to develop the company,” said Lars Klevjer, acting head of Equinor Ventures.

Space Intelligence co-founder and chief scientist Professor Ed Mitchard said 2022 will sadly be marked as one with one of the highest rates of tropical deforestation ever.

“We’re a key part of the drive to halt and reverse that catastrophe,” he said.

”Our specialism is in supporting nature conservation and forest restoration across the world. Murray and I have worked in the field of forest change mapping for the past fifteen years each, measuring tens of thousands of trees and writing over a hundred scientific papers in the process. We’re one of the few companies combining state of the art data analytics with expert knowledge of ecology in the field.

“We are proud to be using this heritage not just to support carbon offsetting projects, but also to enable sustainability-linked finance products. The space sector is a key UK government priority so we’re thrilled to announce this investment and our international expansion. We’re continuing to recruit for data science, software development, and high-level positions, and look forward to opening offices across the world.”

ENDS

Picture Copyright Jeremy Holden, rainforest photographer

Caption: Space Intelligence supports forest restoration across the world, including in Indonesia where the rare rafflesia flower is found. 

For more information 

Please contact Coleen Caiña, marketing officer at Space Intelligence [email protected] 

+447931011214

Kim McAllister, Communications Lead at Space Intelligence

[email protected]

+447740336991

Notes for editors

Space Intelligence employs 32 people currently and is based on George Street in Edinburgh. 

The company has three main products:

CanopyMapper™ shows forest quality and how it is changing, assisting with the planning of forest protection and restoration projects..

HabitatMapper™ which maps the landcover variation of any ecosystem on Earth, and tracks how it is changing with time.

CarbonMapper™ assesses how much carbon is stored in the forest.

Work is underway to expand into sustainability-linked finance.

Equinor Ventures is Equinor’s corporate venture capital arm dedicated to investing in ambitious early-phase and growth companies. One of their core beliefs is that the innovation, creativity and agility of startups can drive change towards a low-carbon future.

It provides venture capital and project-based funding of early-phase ideas. All this is supported by technical, market and financial guidance, with a strong drive for piloting and implementing the solutions. The current portfolio is primarily in Europe and North America, but they are open to opportunities globally.