Plans to expand global monitoring capabilities for high impact business applications
ITHACA, NY – July 19, 2018 – 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.