Ubotica Technologies, a Dublin-based space tech business, plans to have its own satellite in orbit next year to help develop its technology. The move is part of the company’s plan to grow with a series A funding round next year, increasing staff numbers to 150 by 2028.
Ubotica provides artificial intelligence systems for satellites. The space tech business is based in DCU Alpha and was started by Fintan Buckley, John Bourke and Aubrey Dunne in 2017. It has 35 staff spread between its headquarters in Dublin and offices in Ciudad Real, Spain, and Delft in the Netherlands, along with remote staff in Canada and Tunisia. To date, it has raised €5 million in funding.
“We’re focused on the new space sector, what’s known as Space 4.0, where the technology and innovation has increased the number of earth observation satellites in low orbit. These are satellites that effectively are camera systems imaging the planet,” Buckley told the Business Post.
“These aren’t just normal cameras, they capture more than the eye sees. This allows analysis of soil, moisture and the contents of the atmosphere. The conundrum they deal with is that the images are large.”
The challenge with such large images is in the slow speed of moving data from above the planet down to earth.
“If you think back to the days of the dial-up modem, this is essentially what is being dealt with. Our technology facilitates the analysis of images to happen on board the satellites themselves to generate insights, allowing decisions to be made on board the satellite to decide what to do with the image data,” Buckley said.
“We can work out if information is worth downloading in the first place. It ensures only information that is usable is downloaded, while not downloading the rest saves power for the satellite as well.”
Several of the team behind the business previously worked in Movidius, which was sold to Intel for €300 million in 2016. Buckley was not in that business but knew the rest of the founding team through working with them previously.
“I like to think of us as the oldest start-up in Ireland because we’ve been around the block a time or two,” he said.
The business is supported by Enterprise Ireland and Buckley credits the agency with helping Ubotica to scale and make important connections in the sector.
“Where Enterprise Ireland has been extremely beneficial has been through their team of people that coordinate European Space Agency funding. They’ve been extremely helpful in terms of guidance, advice and opening doors for us,” he said.
“They also help in developing the space ecosystem here in Ireland, to build the network, and in the protection of our intellectual property.”
This Making it Work article is produced in partnership with Enterprise Ireland.