Startup satellite imagery provider gets In-Q-Tel backing

Capella Space, a startup commercial satellite imagery provider, has received backing from the intelligence community’s venture capital investment arm to accelerate the development and delivery of the company’s products.

In-Q-Tel will work with Capella to explore the potential application of the imagery and other products for federal agencies including military service branches and intelligence organizations, Capella said Thursday.

Founded in 2016 and headquartered in San Francisco, Capella designed its fleet of small radar satellites to provide customers regularly-updated imagery that is unaffected by clouds or nighttime conditions.

The company touts customers it is on contract with as including the Defense Innovation Unit, National Reconnaissance Office, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, Air Force and Navy.

Capella announced its partnership with In-Q-Tel in tandem with the first high-resolution synthetic aperture radar images from satellite numbers three and four in its constellation that launched earlier this year.

"In-Q-Tel is excited about the capabilities offered by Capella's newest systems on-orbit, and we look forward to working with the company to help our government partners address their enduring need for reliable and repeatable imagery, despite poor weather, for applications that include disaster relief and environmental land use," Tom Gillespie, In-Q-Tel managing partner for investments, said in a release.

“With this latest partnership with In-Q-Tel, we look forward to expanding our relationship with its government partners. Our team is proud to provide reliable, high-resolution SAR imagery to give our government a competitive edge and meet their mission-critical objectives,” added Capella founder and CEO Payam Banazdeh.