Plans to expand global monitoring capabilities for high impact
business applications
Ursa
Space Systems, a provider of geospatial intelligence solutions,
recently announced $5.7 million in new venture funding, led by RRE
Ventures and including participation from S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI) and
Paladin Capital Group. The company will use the funds to develop new
products in response to strong customer demand, as well as expand
current offerings to serve new customers and markets.
Ursa aggregates and analyzes data from the industry’s largest network of
radar satellites to provide customers with alternative sources of market
intelligence. Ursa’s flagship commercial product, Global
Oil Storage Monitoring, is a weekly service measuring crude oil
storage of more than 340 oil terminals worldwide with 3.6 billion
barrels of capacity. Leading global operators in the energy and finance
sectors rely on Ursa’s comprehensive and timely analytics to gain
decision advantage, changing the way they conduct business. Following on
this product’s success, Ursa is extending its focus across the oil
supply chain and expanding the company’s custom monitoring services
across various sectors.
The funding follows the global expansion of Ursa’s
oil storage product and the launch
of a new commercial partnership with S&P Global Platts, a
division of S&P Global. S&P Global Platts is an independent provider of
information, benchmark prices, and analytics for the energy and
commodities markets. They are incorporating Ursa’s oil storage
monitoring into S&P Global Platts Analytics products and services, and
working with Ursa to develop new offerings for the commodity and energy
markets.
“Ursa is making great progress across multiple aspects of their
business,” said Will Porteous, general partner at RRE Ventures and new
Ursa board member. “They’re seeing early success with enterprise
customers like S&P Global Platts, and users are already requesting new
applications of the product for their business. There are many potential
high-value applications for the technology. In addition, they have
attracted really impressive talent. We see a very strong team with a
great value proposition and a huge opportunity in front of them.”
“We are thrilled to increase our investment in Ursa,” said Ewout
Steenbergen, Executive Vice President and CFO of S&P Global. “We think
very highly of the Ursa team and see opportunities to collaborate not
just with S&P Global Platts but across all our businesses.”
“Ursa is equipping our customers with the most comprehensive, reliable,
and timely source of geospatial intelligence possible to inform their
business decisions and provide them with meaningful competitive
advantage,” said Adam Maher, Ursa’s co-founder and CEO. “The opportunity
to partner with proven investors like RRE, Paladin, and S&P Global has
really helped focus our approach and accelerate our success. The new
funding will enable us to execute our business plan more quickly and
capitalize on the broader market opportunity for our capabilities.”
About Ursa
Ursa Space Systems is on an unflinching quest to move the world forward
by turning data into decision advantage. Founded in 2014, Ursa pioneered
transparency of oil data in China and has since expanded its global
reach beyond oil storage and to more than 150 sites worldwide. Ursa’s
geospatial intelligence portfolio sets new standards for accuracy and
reliability and empowers customers with critical insights. For more
information, visit www.ursaspace.com.
About RRE Ventures
RRE Ventures is a New York-based venture capital firm that makes early
stage investments, including seed. In its 23 year history, RRE has
backed companies such as 8i, Bark & Co, Business Insider, Buzzfeed,
Clearpath Robotics, Concur, Giphy, Makerbot, Managed by Q, Proofpoint,
Spaceflight, Spire, theSkimm, Venmo, Vine, and Wisdom Tree.
RRE has raised eight funds with total capital commitments of $1.7
billion. RRE Ventures invests nationally across all sectors, with a
current focus on Enterprise Software, Financial Services,
Blockchain/Crypto, Media, Robotics, VR/AR, Space & Satellites, AI/ML,
Real Estate Technology, and Healthcare IT.
About Paladin Capital Group
Paladin Capital Group is a leading global investor that supports and
grows the world’s most innovative companies through venture investment,
expansion, and growth capital. The company invests in technologies,
products, and services focused on dual use in both commercial and
governmental markets with a strong value-add culture. Paladin is
headquartered in Washington, DC, has offices in New York City, Silicon
Valley, London, and Luxembourg, and seeks out diverse investment
opportunities across the US and worldwide. For more information, visit https://www.paladincapgroup.com/.
About S&P Global
S&P Global is a leading provider of transparent and independent ratings,
benchmarks, analytics, and data to the capital and commodity markets
worldwide. The Company's divisions include S&P Global Ratings, S&P
Global Market Intelligence, S&P Dow Jones Indices and S&P Global Platts.
S&P Global has approximately 20,000 employees in 31 countries. For more
information, visit www.spglobal.com.
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