Rebrands agtech division; announces next-gen analytics platform; updates on mission partners for satellite constellation
Canadian earth observation startup EarthDaily Analytics, which was spun out of UrtheCast’s insolvency less than a year ago, is taking strong strides to be back in business. On Wednesday, the company announced the rebranding of its agtech division, Geosys, to EarthDaily Agro. It also announced the rollout of a next-gen software platform by first quarter this year. The new platform will now be called Geosys.
Interestingly, Geosys was acquired by UrtheCast in 2018 from Land O’Lakes, a Minnesota, US based agriculture cooperative. Land O’Lakes continues to be a strong partner with EarthDaily.
The division has operations in Minneapolis, USA, and Toulouse, France, has more than 30 years of agtech experience analyzing weather and satellite data across the agricultural value chain.
EarthDaily, which is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, was spun out in April 2021 when private equity firm Antarctica Capital bought parts of UrtheCast that had sought creditor protection earlier to avoid bankruptcy. Currently, EarthDaily positions itself as a vertically integrated data processing and analytics company which uses cutting-edge Big Data tools on satellite imagery for addressing some of the world’s greatest challenges, including sustainable agriculture, disaster management, climate change monitoring, among others.
Its fully automated SaaS data processing platform, EarthPipeline, transforms raw satellite data into ultra-high quality image products, which are direct-to-algorithm ready and power AI-based analytics products and services.
EarthDaily also plans to launch a constellation of nine earth observation satellites, with the first three slated for launch around July 2023.
The fully automated nature of the EarthPipeline enables “no humans in the loop” operation that is critical to cost effectively managing the extraordinary scale of processing required for the daily global coverage of the EarthDaily constellation.
According to Don Osborne, CEO, EarthDaily, the rebranding of the division, launch of the new Geosys platform, combined with the ongoing construction of the satellite constellation, all contribute to realizing the company’s commitment to delivering “a highly differentiated and increasingly value-added service that sets its customers meaningfully apart from the competition”.
Why EarthDaily Agro?
EDA expects the new name to reflect the division’s essential role within the larger business of the company, as the agricultural service offering is best positioned to benefit from EDA’s rapid expansion and capability within the geoanalytics sector.
“We are excited because EarthDaily Agro’s dramatically strengthened service offering for our agricultural customers epitomizes what’s next for our entire EarthDaily Analytics business, moving far beyond bulk images and data to incorporate our value-added geoanalytical insights and solutions into customers’ workflows in a way that helps them mitigate risk and make the best possible decisions every day,” Osborne said in a statement.
“Geosys has been a pioneer in the agriculture data and analytics space for more than 30 years,” said Dave Gebhardt, General Manager of EarthDaily Agro. “The new Geosys platform is unlike anything else out there right now in terms of data, speed, reach and ability to fully integrate customized scientific-grade data and insights directly into customers’ systems and workflows. By combining satellite imaging and advanced analytics to effectively mitigate risk and increase efficiency, we are enabling more sustainable outcomes for the organizations and people who feed the planet,” he added.
EarthDaily constellation update
EarthDaily’s constellation of nine super-spectral satellites (and one spare) is expected to be fully operational by 2023. The first three are slated for launch in July 2023 and the remaining six by 2023 end, while the spare one is scheduled to go up in early 2024. Once fully operational, the constellation will provide daily global coverage of the Earth’s land masses. The company sees the data valuable for industries such as agriculture, environmental, social and governance (ESG), insurance, disaster prevention and recovery, commodities trading, and more.
Antarctica Capital has committed to supporting the construction of the constellation which is estimated to cost $150 million.
On Tuesday, EDA announced its mission partners for the constellation. Its lead partner is Loft Orbital Solutions, which in turn has contracted with Airbus to supply satellite buses. The satellite buses are based on Airbus’ OneWeb heritage and production lines but incorporates a range of technical improvements in line with EarthDaily’s requirements.
Loft Orbital will take care of providing the 10 satellite buses, integration of the imaging payloads into the satellites, launch, and spacecraft operations. Loft Orbital will also provide the systems and services that enable EDA to operate the imaging payloads and downlink the data directly to its cloud-based ground segment.
Osborne said the company has partnered with industry leaders to ensure dependability and quality of products and services as it works towards “changing the business of monitoring both natural and human-caused change across the planet”.
“By utilizing ground-breaking artificial intelligence / machine learning applications, EDA will be in the unique position to provide differentiated, highly value-added insights and solutions for a wide range of the world’s most pressing challenges,” said Osborne.
