Technology Scotland recently caught up with our member, Simera Sense, for our Member Spotlight series. We find out who Simera Sense are, what they do, and much more! Take a look below and get to know them.
What does your organisation do?
Simera Sense was founded in 2018, and we produce end-to-end optical payload solutions for earth observation using CubeSats and small satellites covering the RGB, video, multispectral and hyperspectral domain applications. We design, develop, build three camera products: the xScape50, xScape100, and xScape200. Our smallest camera, the xScape50, is small at only a 1U form factor and allows for wide-angle imaging with a swath of 120km. The xScape100, our most popular camera, is very powerful for its compact size (1.5U) and allows for hyperspectral imaging using 32 bands out of a choice of 400 total bands. Our most powerful camera, the xScape200, offers an exceptional spatial resolution of 1.5m GSD at 500km.
Along with our cameras we also produce imager electronics and, in collaboration with our partners, image processing tools. Simera Sense was originally founded with the vision that large scale earth observation is a key element to monitor and improve human activity so that we can live in harmony with our planet. We are therefore proud that, amongst numerous applications such as agriculture and defence, our cameras are used for disaster management and prevention, carbon emissions monitoring and deforestation tracking.
What is your organisation’s biggest achievement?
Our biggest achievement has been our growth — our ability to get our products to market and build a client base. From the founding of the company to having our first camera in space took about two years; a timeline we are incredibly proud of given the amount of R&D which is required in this industry. In the 6 years since our founding in South Africa, we have over 40 clients worldwide, 32 cameras in orbit, and 70 more due to launch this year. This is despite numerous challenges including the global COVID pandemic and pivoting to service the NewSpace industry.
We continue to grow at a rate of knots, now employing nearly 90 people across 5 countries, a workforce growth of 100% over the past 12 months.
Tell us something exciting about your organisation
We are growing our presence in the UK! Last year we opened our UK office, and we recently appointed our Managing Director for that office. We foresee quite extensive growth within the UK, as we plan to open a production facility within the next year in Glasgow that will focus on our new product line in the sub-metric resolution market. We already have an extensive client base in the UK that includes companies such as AAC Clyde Space, Open Cosmos and BAE Systems as well has relationships with suppliers such as Teledyne Space Imaging. All this growth has been made possible by a successful funding round that we had in 2024, bringing on three new investment partners.
Why did you join Technology Scotland?
We are excited about the future of the space industry in Scotland. As we expand our operations in the country, build our client base and meet new suppliers, it is important for us to be part of the Scotland Technology community. Your network and support will be invaluable to us as we continue to grow in Scotland, helping us to navigate the political, financial, and commercial landscape.