Wyvern was founded with the broad goal of providing actionable intelligence of Earth from space to enable a sustainable future for humanity. Wyvern’s founders, Chris Robson, Kurtis Broda, Callie Lissinna, and Kristen Cote, initially bonded over a passion for space and a relentless pursuit towards launching the first made-in-Alberta satellite. Since its founding, Wyvern has expanded from a team of four founders to a diverse group of 33 employees, spread across Canada and the U.S. Along the way, Wyvern has strengthened its leadership team with experienced professionals from the space sector, including Thomas VanMatre (Chief Revenue Officer) and Adam O’Connor (Chief Product Officer), who bring expertise from roles at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, DigitalGlobe, L3Harris, MAXAR, and others.
“We are thrilled to have the support of Squadra Ventures as we embark on the next phase of our growth,” said Chris Robson, CEO of Wyvern. “This investment reinforces our commitment to providing the best quality, highest resolution commercial hyperspectral imagery from space. It positions us to scale in the U.S., one of the largest markets for remote sensing data, while continuing to drive innovation here in Alberta.”
The investment underscores the growing demand for advanced Earth imaging solutions across forestry, agriculture, energy, defense, and environmental monitoring sectors. With Wyvern’s unique hyperspectral imagery, which is the highest resolution commercial hyperspectral imagery available, businesses and governments can unlock valuable insights for sustainable operations and resource management.
“Wyvern is the future of Earth observation from space, and we’re excited to support their journey,” said Guy Filippelli, Managing Partner at Squadra Ventures. “Their cutting-edge technology is critical for defense, energy, and environmental use cases, and Chris and the full team bring the expertise and hustle needed to dominate the market. We’re thrilled to support them and excited to help bring Wyvern’s imagery offerings to the US and global markets.
In addition to its U.S. market ambitions, this investment allows Wyvern to strengthen Alberta’s position as a hub for technology and innovation. The company’s continuing success contributes to the province’s recognition as a leader in the tech sector; Wyvern is reinforcing the “space” in Alberta’s growing reputation in the wider aerospace sector. Additionally, data from Wyvern’s satellites helps to fortify the world-renowned machine learning and artificial intelligence research in the province, wherein Wyvern imagery can be used within an ML/AI algorithm to solve key sustainability issues.
“Wyvern’s success is a great example of Alberta’s thriving technology industry,” said Nate Glubish, Alberta’s Minister of Technology and Innovation. “The Government of Alberta is proud to partner with Wyvern through our GovLab.AI program as we seek to combine world-class hyperspectral satellite imaging data with Alberta’s best AI researchers to create cutting-edge wildfire prediction and prevention models. This investment, including capital from the University of Alberta’s Innovation Fund, will help Wyvern push the boundaries of Alberta’s space technology sector, create high-quality jobs, and attract further investment to Alberta.”
With this investment, Wyvern is poised to not only become a major player in the commercial hyperspectral data industry but also to contribute significantly to Alberta’s economic and technological position. Funds from the raise will support the expansion of the Dragonette constellation software and operations, as well as strengthening business development and sales efforts to meet growing market demand. This raise marks a significant milestone towards Wyvern’s goal to create a Better Earth, From Space.
About Wyvern
Edmonton-based space data company Wyvern was created to provide hyperspectral data that will enable a sustainable future for humanity. Wyvern’s cutting-edge unfolding camera technology will make high-quality, high-resolution hyperspectral imagery from satellites affordable like never before, unlocking applications in new markets for the very first time. The company is proud to be carving a path for the Canadian space industry by providing the highest-resolution commercial hyperspectral imagery of the Earth available now. For more information about commercial uses of hyperspectral data, visit the Wyvern Knowledge Centre.
About Squadra Ventures
Squadra Ventures is a venture capital firm led by founder-operators that invests in early-stage cyber and national security companies. Grounded in the belief that success is a combination of people, product, and planning, the Squadra team provides transformational support to startup leaders in the complex dual-use technology ecosystem. By applying a growth-stage mindset at the seed stage and a commitment to building alongside entrepreneurs, Squadra empowers extraordinary teams to win and leave a lasting positive impact on the world. Learn more at squadra.vc
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