Accenture invests in hyperspectral satellite company Pixxel to monitor Earth’s health
NEW YORK and BANGALORE, India; August 30, 2022 – Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has made a strategic investment, through Accenture VenturesIN Pixel, a leader in the latest earth imaging technology. Based in Bangalore with a presence in Los Angeles, Pixxel is building the world’s highest-resolution hyperspectral imagery satellite constellation to deliver AI-powered industry insights that detect, solve and predict climate issues with a fraction of the the cost of traditional satellites.
Pixxel’s satellites can capture images at hundreds of wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum and reveal key data about the health of our planet that are invisible to other satellites. The company’s planned constellation of hyperspectral satellites will reshape the way businesses in agriculture, defense, mining, environmental and other critical industries make global decisions to reduce their environmental impact. Data from Pixxel satellites provides 8 times more information and 50 times better resolution than existing options on the market.
“We continue to have great interest in startups within the emerging space industry, which some have predicted will reach $1 trillion in revenue by 2040[1]and Pixxel is a particularly exciting company sitting at the intersection of space technology and sustainability,” said Tom Lounibos, managing director, Accenture Ventures. “Imagine being able to predict a famine before a crop blight takes hold or stop an oil spill before it endangers the ocean’s delicate biospheres Pixxel’s hyperspectral imaging technology has the potential to do just that, and in doing so, it can help scientists address some of the world’s most pressing challenges for our Earth.”
Pixxel’s first commercial phase satellites are scheduled to be launched in early 2023 along with the commercial sale of its data. With six satellites flown in a Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO) around an altitude of 550 km, Pixxel’s hyperspectral constellation will be able to cover every point on the globe every 48 hours. With even more satellites scheduled for launch in late 2023, Pixxel will achieve global daily coverage by early 2024. Lessons from the data transmitted by this constellation will provide a global-scale perspective of ecosystems and biospheres on a planetary scale that will be used to create an AI-informed analysis platform and a digital twin of the earth.
“Our investment in Pixxel reflects our ongoing and active engagement with India’s promising startup ecosystem, and more such engagements are essential to creating solutions that drive real-world impact,” said Mahesh Zurale, senior managing director, head – Centers of Advanced Technology in India. Emphasis. “With so many aspects of our daily lives being increasingly affected by climate and sustainability issues, we believe that Pixxel’s Earth Health Monitoring can play a crucial role in enabling global organizations to detect events early on potentially harmful and help prevent them.”
Pixxel is the latest company to join Accenture Ventures’ Project in the spotlight, an engagement and investment program focused on investing in companies that create or apply disruptive enterprise technologies. In addition to funding, Project Spotlight connects emerging technology software startups with the Global 2000 to fill strategic innovation gaps and provides broad access to Accenture’s domain expertise and enterprise clients, helping startups harness human creativity and deliver on the promise of their technology.
“We are excited to join Accenture’s Project Spotlight and collaborate with Accenture’s innovation labs, business and industry experts, and powerful customers and ecosystem partners in aerospace, science, technology and sustainability,” said the CEO and co-founder of Pixxel Awais Ahmed. “Accenture’s global reach and support will help accelerate our ambitious mission to create a health monitor for the Earth and leverage our technology to address some of the most pressing issues facing our planet.”
Accenture’s investment in Pixxel follows a $25 million Series A funding round the company announced in March 2022 and the launch of their first satellite as part of SpaceX’s Transporter-4 payload in April. To date, more than 50 customers have signed pre-launch agreements with Pixxel from industries including agriculture, oil and gas, mining and climate sectors.
The terms of the investment have not been disclosed.
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About Pixxel
Pixxel is building a health monitor for the planet by building and launching the world’s highest resolution hyperspectral imaging satellites. Co-founded by then 20-year-olds Awais Ahmed and Kshitij Khandelwal in 2019, Pixxel has worked with prominent organizations such as the Indian Space Research Organisation, NASA JPL and SpaceX among space powers. Pixxel is backed by Lightspeed, Radical Ventures, Relativity’s Jordan Noone, Seraphim Capital, Ryan Johnson, Blume Ventures, Sparta LLC, growX ventures, Inventus Capital and Omnivore VC among others. For more information visit www.pixxel.space or follow Pixxel at I tweet AND LinkedIn.
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Contacts:
Christian Harper
accentuation
+1 917 452 4417
christian.harper@accenture.com
John O’Brien
Pixel
Pixxel@strangebrewstrategies.com
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