Europe's latest unicorn highlights dual-use potential of climate tech, says early investor
16 dec. 2025
12:08
ICEYE, the Finnish satellite scaleup that tracks everything from floods and deforestation to warfare, has become a poster child for the growing segment of “dual-use” climate tech.
"Space companies focused on data intelligence and climate resilience are not only possible, but highly investable,” Maureen Haverty, investment principal at Seraphim Space, tells Impact Loop.
"Space companies focused on data intelligence and climate resilience are not only possible, but highly investable,” Maureen Haverty, investment principal at Seraphim Space, tells Impact Loop.
Rafal Modrzewski and Pekka Laurila founded ICEYE as a spin-off from Finland’s Aalto University back in 2015 to commercialise synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) satellites capable of imaging the planet day or night, through cloud cover.
ICEYE's first pilot project tested its ability to monitor pack ice from space. A few years later, in 2021, ICEYE's constellation of small satellites joined Europe’s Copernicus environmental monitoring programme, tracking floods, sea-ice loss, deforestation, soil moisture and other natural hazards fr...