ICEYE Receives 10M€ Capital Loan from Business Finland To Initiate Internet of Locations

Business Finland’s Growth Engine funding helps ICEYE extend services in Finland and across the world.

Helsinki, FINLAND – December 14 – ICEYE, an Earth observation company creating the world’s largest Synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) satellite constellation, today announced it has received a 10M€ a capital loan from Business Finland that is meant for the orchestration of Growth Engines. Business Finland is the most important public funding agency for research funding in Finland, and it is directed by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment. The received funding is used for SAR satellite manufacturing during 2019 and for establishing the Internet of Locations ecosystem originating from Finland.

ICEYE successfully launched its second SAR satellite, ICEYE-X2, on 3rd of December. The satellite launch is an initial step of creating the necessary SAR satellite constellation of ICEYE for frequent and reliable satellite-based information about any location on Earth. ICEYE is establishing the Internet of Locations to support vast economic growth in Finland in the various parts of generating, analyzing, and consuming satellite data for operational uses.

Providing the capability to get accurate, objective and reliable information in real time from anywhere in the world is a transformative proposition for practically every industry and government. Information that has been gained from satellite imaging can be used to help solve problems such as global illegal fishing, illegal logging, and for commercial uses such as for flood insurance related services.

“By capturing detailed imagery and analyzing these data sets, ICEYE is on the cusp of developing a global market through our radar satellite imaging capacity. Finland is uniquely positioned to capitalize on its highly competent talent and ongoing research in topics such as machine learning,” said Pekka Laurila, CSO and co-founder of ICEYE. “For a long time, there has been satellite imagery that has been too infrequent, hindered by clouds or largely unusable due to night time. ICEYE’s radar satellite constellation is solving all of these issues. As a result, we are enabling a huge range of new applications to be built on seeing into locations, reliably, multiple times per day.”

”From the perspective of Finland, ICEYE is in a unique position as a provider of satellite imagery. With the help of funding from Business Finland, ICEYE is working to create opportunities for other organisations as well in generating new industry applications from location-based information. With this ecosystem that is built around data, there’s significant potential for creating new talent and business opportunities,” says Jussi Sainiemi, Funding Director, Tesi. Tesi is one of ICEYE’s investors.

Autonomous shipping is one of the future industries that benefits from new space infrastructure. ”Companies participating in the One Sea ecosystem, ABB, Cargotec, Ericsson, Finnpilot Pilotage, Rolls-Royce Marine, Tieto and Wärtsilä, are right now developing new solutions in smart and autonomous shipping. At sea, you need frequently updated information that can be gathered with radar satellites.”, says Jukka Merenluoto, Director of One Sea from DIMECC Oy.

Business Finland uses the name Growth Engine to describe cooperation networks − ecosystems − aimed at new business activities in Finland amounting to more than one billion euros. Growth Engines are implemented through an enterprise-driven partnership model between companies, research organizations and public actors, which strives to find solutions to global market disruption and create new growth sectors in Finland. With this goal in mind, the grant from Business Finland enables ICEYE to provide new space infrastructure and data solutions to the global data consumption market, and establish Finland as a world-leader in the emerging Internet of Locations.

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Media Contact:

press@iceye.fi

About ICEYE
ICEYE empowers others to make better decisions in governmental and commercial industries by providing access to timely and reliable satellite imagery. The company is tackling this crucial lack of actionable information with world-first aerospace capabilities and a New Space approach. ICEYE’s radar satellite imaging service, with coverage of selected areas every few hours, both day and night, helps clients resolve challenges in sectors such as maritime, disaster management, insurance, finance, security and intelligence. ICEYE is the first organization in the world to successfully launch synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) satellites with a launch mass under 100 kg. For more information, please visit: www.iceye.com

About Tesi
We accelerate companies' growth stories by investing in them, directly or via funds. Operating as an active minority owner, we provide access to business expertise and international networks. We invest together with private investors on the same terms as them and with the same expectations for returns. As a state-owned investment company, our mission is to develop Finland’s venture capital and private equity market as well as to promote Finnish business and Finland’s economic growth.

About Business Finland
Business Finland offers Finnish companies a unified customer journey for innovation activities, internationalization, investments, and tourism promotion. Business Finland is an accelerator of global growth. The organization creates new growth by helping businesses go global and by supporting and funding innovations. Business Finland’s top experts and the latest research data enable companies to seize market opportunities and turn them into success stories.

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"ICEYE's satellite constellation is being launched as infrastructure for gaining information about any point on Earth many times per day - through clouds and even during night time."

ICEYE logo.