Accenture (NYSE:ACN) announced an investment and collaboration with Open Cosmos at this year’s World Satellite Business Week in Paris. Open Cosmos is a space technology company that focuses on the design, manufacturing and integration of satellites, and builds and operates space missions, providing access to satellite data and insights on a global scale via a data services platform. The two companies will help clients track and analyze data found in space in order to help solve business challenges found on Earth, particularly related to sustainability. Accenture Ventures led the investment as part of its broader Project Spotlight initiative.
Launching a satellite into space can take years of preparation and millions of dollars, putting the prospect out of reach for most companies. Open Cosmos democratizes access to satellite data by allowing multiple companies to retrieve data collected by one satellite, while also managing the satellite infrastructure with a proprietary platform technology that allows companies to easily collect and share data.
“Accenture sees a future where every company is able to tap into the vast potential of data captured in space in order to push past the boundaries of the possible and find new sources of innovation,” said Tom Lounibos, managing director, Accenture Ventures. “Although access to this data has traditionally been limited and costly, Open Cosmos removes these barriers with satellites that launch quickly and simply, providing fast access to data on climate changes, energy, resources, navigation and more.”
“Today we stand at the edge of a paradigm shift, as numerous companies strive to democratize access to space and provide access to its valuable information,” added Paul Thomas, Space Innovation Lead, Technology Innovation at Accenture. “Open Cosmos is dedicated to helping their customers solve problems using data and insights from space. Working together, we envisage a world where space technology and data are more accessible and can be more easily harnessed and interpreted to fuel innovation and drive sustainable progress.”
Accenture’s 2023 Technology Vision found that 85% of executives believe that advancements in science tech are accelerating innovation within their industry. From space industry expansion to breakthroughs in drug discovery, the feedback loop between science and technology is getting faster, with each accelerating the advancement of the other, in ways that will turbocharge scientific discovery.
“Open Cosmos is one of the fastest growing companies in the satellite sector,” said Rafel Jorda Siquier, founder and CEO, Open Cosmos. “This investment and collaboration with Accenture will help us achieve our goal of simplifying access to space using smaller satellites and ensure that a greater number of organizations all over the world can benefit from the richness of satellite data to improve sustainability, logistics and other global and business challenges.”
Open Cosmos is the latest company to join Accenture Ventures’ Project Spotlight, an engagement and investment program that targets technology companies that can help fill strategic innovation gaps for the Global 2000. These companies co-innovate with Accenture, working with subject matter experts to adapt their solutions to the enterprise market and scale faster and more effectively. Through Project Spotlight, Accenture Ventures has recently invested in several additional satellite data and image companies, including Pixxel, Planet, and SpiderOak.
Terms of the investment were not disclosed.