Breaking
SERIES A  SkyFi closes oversubscribed $12.7M round, Jan 2026 MARKETPLACE  One platform, 50+ satellite providers DEFENSE  SOCOM to test imagery-to-tablet prototype NATO  Selected for DIANA 2026 Defence Innovation Accelerator SPEED  Procurement cut from 6 months to minutes SERIES A  SkyFi closes oversubscribed $12.7M round, Jan 2026 MARKETPLACE  One platform, 50+ satellite providers DEFENSE  SOCOM to test imagery-to-tablet prototype NATO  Selected for DIANA 2026 Defence Innovation Accelerator SPEED  Procurement cut from 6 months to minutes
Company Profile · Earth Intelligence Austin, Texas · Est. 2021
The Getty Images of satellite data

SkyFi

Search, task, buy and analyze satellite imagery from more than 50 providers - in minutes, from a browser or a phone.

SkyFi Earth intelligence platform
SKYFI — The self-service Earth intelligence platform that turns weeks of satellite-imagery procurement into a few clicks. Company image.
50+
Imagery Providers
$12.7M
Series A · 2026
$30M+
Total Raised
~91
Employees
What SkyFi Does

A single search bar for the whole sky

SkyFi is a self-service Earth intelligence platform. From one interface - web, mobile app or API - a user can search imagery archives, task a satellite to shoot a specific place at a specific time, buy the result, and run analytics on it, all without owning a satellite or hiring a geospatial team.

The company aggregates optical, synthetic aperture radar (SAR), hyperspectral and aerial imagery from more than 50 commercial providers. Instead of contacting each operator separately and negotiating for weeks, customers compare options and place orders the way they would book a ride. SkyFi does not own or fly a single spacecraft - its product is the marketplace and the software that sits on top of everyone else's.

Founder Luke Fischer frames the goal plainly: the imagery itself is becoming a commodity, so the value is in the answer. SkyFi layers built-in analytics - object detection, change detection, vessel tracking, hyperspectral signature analysis - on top of the raw pixels so customers get insight, not just a picture.

OpticalSARHyperspectral AerialSatellite taskingArchive access AI analyticsDeveloper APIMobile app
"The real goal for us is providing answers for customers, both government and commercial."
— Luke Fischer, Co-Founder & CEO, SkyFi
The Problem It Solves

Buying a satellite image used to be miserable

SkyFi exists because of a very specific frustration. Co-founder Bill Perkins, a hedge fund manager, tried to buy satellite imagery to inform natural gas and oil bets. Purchasing up to $1,000,000 of imagery took three to six months and meant dealing separately with every major provider. He decided to fix it, and teamed up with Fischer, a former Army aviation officer.

The old way

Contact each operator, negotiate contracts, wait months, hire GIS specialists to interpret the files.

The SkyFi way

Draw an area, compare providers, order in minutes, get analytics-ready answers - no long-term contract.

Why it matters

Decisions in finance, defense, agriculture and insurance move on timelines measured in hours, not quarters.

By The Numbers

Months to minutes

SkyFi's core pitch is compression: collapsing a procurement process that once dragged across a fiscal quarter into a task you finish before lunch.

Time to acquire commercial satellite imagery (illustrative)
Traditional
~6 mo
Legacy portals
days
SkyFi
minutes

Directional comparison based on public statements from SkyFi and press coverage; not a controlled benchmark.

Products & Services

What you can actually order

2023

Web Platform

Search archives, task satellites, purchase imagery and run built-in geospatial analytics from 50+ providers in one place.

2023

Mobile App

Order imagery and monitor areas of interest from iOS or Android - no GIS expertise required.

2023

Developer API

Integrate tasking, archive access and analytics directly into large-scale customer workflows.

2024

AI Analytics

Object detection, change detection, vessel tracking and hyperspectral signature analysis turn pixels into answers.

2025

Plugin for ATAK

Built with GoTAK, brings taskable satellite imagery into the Android Team Awareness Kit; v2 adds offline access for field teams.

2025

Custom Partner Platforms

White-label ordering platforms built for operators including Vantor, ICEYE US and Planet.

Who Uses It & Where It Fits

Dual-use by design

SkyFi serves the same platform to a farmer, an insurer, a hedge fund analyst and a special operations soldier. That dual-use base - defense and government on one side, commercial industry on the other - is central to how it positions in the market.

On the commercial side, customers span finance, energy, agriculture, insurance, infrastructure, construction, mining, maritime and environmental services. On the government side, U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) is testing SkyFi's satellite-imagery-to-tablet prototype, and the company was selected for NATO's DIANA 2026 Defence Innovation Accelerator.

In a market where the big players are satellite operators (Vantor/Maxar, Planet, ICEYE, Airbus) and analytics firms (Palantir, Descartes Labs, UP42), SkyFi's distinct seat is the provider-agnostic aggregator - the layer that makes all of those catalogs searchable and buyable in one place.

Defense & GovFinanceEnergy AgricultureInsuranceInfrastructure MaritimeMiningEnvironment
Business Model & Edge

Sell answers, not satellites

SkyFi runs on a marketplace and data-as-a-service model: transparent, subscription-free pay-per-order pricing plus API access, with no long-term contracts. Revenue comes from imagery and analytics transactions, subscriptions, API usage and the custom platforms it builds for satellite partners.

Provider-agnostic

Owns no spacecraft, so it can stay neutral and aggregate 50+ operators instead of pushing one catalog.

Accessibility first

Transparent pricing and a consumer-grade UX open Earth observation to buyers who never had a GIS team.

Insight layer

Built-in AI analytics move the value up from raw imagery to decisions, where margins and stickiness live.

The People

Founders

Luke Fischer

CO-FOUNDER & CEO

Former U.S. Army aviation officer whose career includes Uber Elevate, Joby Aviation and Shield Capital. Leads SkyFi's mission to make Earth observation as easy to buy as a rideshare.

Bill Perkins

CO-FOUNDER

Hedge fund manager whose frustration buying satellite imagery for energy investments - a months-long ordeal - became the founding spark for SkyFi.

The Story So Far

A short flight path

2021

Incorporated in Austin

Luke Fischer and Bill Perkins found SkyFi in December to democratize access to Earth observation data.

2023

First product launches

The self-service platform and app debut, letting users order fresh satellite imagery in real time with a click.

2024

AI analytics arrive

Built-in geospatial analytics like object and change detection layer onto the marketplace.

2025

ATAK plugin & partner platforms

Ships the GoTAK-built ATAK plugin (v2 offline) and custom platforms for Vantor, ICEYE US and Planet.

2026

Series A & defense momentum

Closes an oversubscribed $12.7M round, is selected for NATO DIANA, and begins SOCOM prototype testing.

Funding

$12.7M, oversubscribed

SkyFi originally set out to raise about $8M. In a record year for defense-related investment, demand pushed the January 2026 Series A to $12.7M and total funding past $30M.

$12.7M
Series A
Jan 14, 2026
$30M+
Total Raised
Since 2021
Co-Leads
Buoyant · IronGate

Series A co-led by Buoyant Ventures and IronGate Capital Advisors, with new investors DNV Ventures, TFX Capital, Beyond Earth Ventures, Nova Threshold and Chris Morisoli, alongside existing backers RSquared VC and J2 Ventures.

Partnerships

The network behind the marketplace

Vantor

Custom ordering platform built for the operator formerly known as Maxar Intelligence.

ICEYE US

SAR data provider and custom-platform partner.

Planet

Imagery provider and custom-platform partner.

GoTAK

Co-developed the SkyFi Plugin for ATAK, delivering real-time imagery to field devices.

NATO DIANA

Selected for the 2026 Defence Innovation Accelerator program.

U.S. SOCOM

Testing SkyFi's satellite-imagery-to-tablet prototype for special operations.

Off The Record

Five things to know

SkyFi owns zero satellites - it's a marketplace layered on 50+ providers.

The company began with a hedge fund manager's 3-to-6-month headache buying imagery.

CEO Luke Fischer is a former Army aviator who worked on flying cars at Uber Elevate and Joby.

Fischer says his teenage daughters order satellite imagery on their iPhones for school projects.

Press nicknamed SkyFi "the Getty Images of satellite intelligence."

FAQ

Questions people ask

What does SkyFi do?

It runs a self-service marketplace where users search, task, buy and analyze satellite imagery and geospatial analytics from more than 50 commercial providers via one web platform, mobile app or API.

Does SkyFi own satellites?

No. SkyFi is provider-agnostic and owns no spacecraft; it aggregates imagery across optical, SAR, hyperspectral and aerial data from 50+ operators.

Who founded SkyFi and when?

Luke Fischer (CEO) and Bill Perkins co-founded SkyFi in 2021, incorporating in December and launching the first product in early 2023.

How much has SkyFi raised?

It raised an oversubscribed $12.7M Series A in January 2026, bringing total funding to over $30M since founding.

Who are SkyFi's customers?

A dual-use mix: defense and government (including SOCOM testing and NATO DIANA) plus commercial sectors like finance, energy, agriculture, insurance, infrastructure, maritime and mining.

Explore & Watch

Links, channels & demos

Share this profile