IT Consulting Firm Accenture Invests in Satellite Data, Sustainability Startup Open Cosmos

When global IT consulting firm Accenture recently invested in Open Cosmos, the move reinforced Accenture's growing focus on data-driven sustainability initiatives.

The background: Open Cosmos designs, manufactures and integrates satellite solutions, and associated data services platforms. The company allows multiple customers to retrieve data collected by one satellite, while also managing the satellite infrastructure with a proprietary platform.

Working together, Accenture and Open Cosmos will "help clients track and analyze data found in space in order to help solve business challenges found on Earth, particularly related to sustainability."

Open Cosmos: Satellite Business Background, Growth

Open Cosmos raised $50 million in Series B funding in September 2023. ETF Partners, Trill Impact and A&G led the round. Accenture Ventures, Banco Santander InnoEnergy Climate Tech Fund and Claret Capital Partners, with participation from Taavet Hinrikus and Kheng Nam Lee, also participated in the round.

Accenture did not disclose a specific dollar figure for the investment, and Open Cosmos did not reveal the company's pre- or post-money valuation.

Open Cosmos, founded in 2015, previously raised $7 million ahead of the Series B round. The company has been EBITDA positive since year-end 2020, and revenues have been doubling annually, Open Cosmos said in September 2023. Actual revenue and profit figures have not been publicly disclosed.

The company, which has roughly 80 employees is evaluating potential acquisitions that "enable inorganic growth both upstream and downstream," according to a September 2023 statement.

Accenture Invests in Open Cosmos: Executive Perspectives

In a prepared statement about the Open Cosmos investment, Accenture Ventures Managing Director Tom Lounibos said: “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. 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.”

Added Paul Thomas, the space innovation Lead, Technology Innovation at Accenture: “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. 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."

Concluded Rafel Jorda Siquier, founder and CEO, Open Cosmos: “Open Cosmos is one of the fastest growing companies in the satellite sector. 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.”

Accenture Ventures, Project Spotlight and Sustainability Partnerships

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. Additional Project Spotlight investments include Pixxel, Planet, and SpiderOak.

Accenture is perhaps best known for traditional IT and cloud consulting. But the company also has a growing focus on sustainability, renewable energy and green IT services. Key moves include:

• Partnership: Working with Microsoft on cloud-based applications for energy companies.
• M&A: Acquiring sustainability consultancy Green Domus of Brazil.
• Partnership: Working with climate risk software provider Cervest.
• M&A: Acquiring industrial artificial intelligence consultancy Flutura.
• Partnership: Working with satellite data specialist Planet Labs.

The overall Accenture business has roughly 732,000 employees across 120 countries.