Simera Sense, a South African provider of earth observation camera solutions, has raised €13.5 million, its first growth investment round to offer a diverse array of ‘off-the-shelf’ high-resolution cameras ready for use by clients across the global small satellite industry.

Founded in 2018, Simera Sense will use the investment from NewSpace Capital and Knife Capital to respond to rising client demand and expand its current production capacity, with additional production sites planned in Europe.

According to Johann Du Toit, CEO at Simera Sense, ‘We’re very pleased with the amount raised and grateful to NewSpace Capital and Knife Capital for choosing to back us. We are looking forward to our journey together. We’ll be looking immediately to increase our production capacity so we can meet client demand and bring delivery time down further, while taking the development of our on-board data processing solutions to the next stage. Satellite imagery has a central role to play in helping us solve problems here on Earth, and the dynamism and growth of the Earth observation and wider space market reflect that. It’s a very exciting time for the company.’

In addition to strengthening its production and customer support capacity in Europe, the new funding will enable Simera to expand its product development teams. This will fast-track the development of higher-resolution and SWIR camera products.

Another key area of development for Simera Sense is the inclusion of industry-transforming on-board data processing, embedded in the camera control electronics. Already under development, it will be a market first, as data from satellite cameras is typically processed on the ground, stretching bandwidth and creating communication issues.

Simera supplies solutions to global customers in the Earth observation data and service market, which is estimated to be worth USD 12.55 billion in 2024, and is expected to reach USD 20.73 billion by 2029.

Bogdan Gogulan, Managing Partner of NewSpace Capital, said: ‘We spent a long time looking at the market for a company with not just the ambition but the expertise to revolutionise Earth observation, and Simera Sense stood out from the crowd. We’ve been following the company for a number of years. The team has a very rare combination of technical excellence, business acumen, resilience and humility that attracts customers and partners. We believe this team will achieve a lot, including mastering on-board data processing, which would be transformational for the market. There are also interesting synergies with some other companies in our portfolio.’

Keet van Zyl, Co-Founder and Partner at Knife Capital, added:‘We are thrilled to back the unique combination of a deep technology product suite, a market demand for Simera Sense products and an entrepreneurial team that has a track record of proven execution capabilities in this space. It has already been a fulfilling journey even during due diligence and closing out the transaction with credible investment partners. Knife Capital is proud to be part of transforming the optical payload solutions industry.’

Simera Sense, which was launched in South Africa and is headquartered in Leuven, Belgium, counts AAC Clyde Space, Open Cosmos, Nara Space, OHB Systems AG, and many others among its valued clients.

The company collaborates with various European institutions and participates in partnership with other companies in response to  ‘New Space’ prospects.

In 2020, in partnership with Open Cosmos, it was selected to be part of the Phi-Sat-2 mission, supported by ESA, providing solutions for an AI-enabled Earth Observation Cubesat.