Marble Imaging raises €6M to build German VHR satellite fleet

First satellite due in early 2027

Marble's first satellite, Marble Sat-1, is fully funded and has completed pre-flight testing. It is scheduled to launch in early 2027. The spacecraft is designed to capture imagery at up to 0.7 m spatial resolution in the visible and near-infrared spectrum, and it will also collect shortwave infrared data.

The company plans to use the fresh capital to speed up satellite and launch procurement, with a goal of 30 satellites by 2030. The planned constellation is meant to deliver up to hourly Earth observation data and analytics.

Alongside the hardware, Marble is building an AI-powered analytics platform that turns multi-source data into insights. It already sells data analysis services, including object detection for situational intelligence, terrain analysis and trafficability assessment, coastal asset monitoring and land cover classification. According to the company, its software already has paying customers.

Why Europe's own imagery matters

Marble argues that Europe and many of its partners depend on non-European providers for VHR imagery, which leaves them exposed to being cut off from coverage of key areas. The company cites Ukraine and the Strait of Hormuz as examples, saying such gaps create serious economic and security blind spots.

"Scaling from here is a question of capital, not technology," said co-founder and CEO Robert Hook, adding that the round speeds up the path to "sovereign intelligence with a European identity." Target users include defence, civil security, critical infrastructure and climate and crisis management.

Filip Dames, Founding Partner at Cherry Ventures, said Europe needs its own eyes in space and that the product Marble intends to deliver does not yet exist in Europe. Marble was founded in August 2023 by Hook, Dr. Gopika Suresh, Alexander Epp and Dr. Raul Scarlat.