UP42
A geospatial data and analytics marketplace

UP42 combines multiple sources of satellite imagery, geospatial data, and analytics on a single scalable platform. To help organizations of all sizes harness the power of geospatial insights, UP42 partners with leading providers to bring data and algorithms to its marketplace.
Customers use UP42 to build flexible solutions for infrastructure monitoring, maritime surveillance, crop monitoring, and other uses. And developers and data scientists across all industries have a platform to build, run, and scale projects in one place.
The Opportunity
BCG Digital Ventures recognized that, in order to boost geospatial development and commercialization, Airbus’s proposed venture would need to anticipate future trends.
UP42 was structured to provide self-service API access instead of direct customer relations. Rather than selling pixels, it would sell insights. The idea was to bypass offline operations to exploit the cloud and forgo closed ecosystems in favor of an open marketplace.
UP42 was conceived as an open developer platform to build, run, and scale geospatial products. It brings together high-resolution satellite imagery, drone imagery, IoT data, and the algorithms to work with all that data, and it serves as a marketplace for geospatial data and processing algorithms.
Developers and data scientists—from small start-ups to the analytics departments of big corporations across industries—can use the platform to gain valuable geospatial insights that lead to more revenue and profits.
Industries
Industrial Goods
Regions
EMEA
Technologies
Machine Learning, Platform/APIs, Satellite, AI
Expertise
Engineered Products and Infrastructure, Geospatial Data
Our Approach
MVP Alpha
In January 2019, Digital Ventures conducted a demo with two alpha co-creation partners to define the initial concept and focus on the basics of platform development.
MVP Beta
The onboarding of 5 to 10 beta co-creation partners took place in March 2019, adding more data and processing blocks and getting things ready for launching the platform.
Self-Service Mode
Finally, the move from co-creation to self-service mode led to the public launch of the platform, enabling developers to build solutions on their own from May 2019 onward.
The impact realized
20+ data blocks
20+ available data and processing blocks at launch, many more than any competitor
150+ data sources
And algorithms coming from 50+ suppliers, many of whom are the world’s leading providers of geospatial data and algorithms
35K+ users
On the platform
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We've helped the world's leading companies invent, launch, and scale innovative businesses that leverage and reinforce their core capabilities. Explore our portfolio of pioneering businesses that are creating value for our clients.
More venture stories
We've helped the world's leading companies invent, launch, and scale innovative businesses that leverage and reinforce their core capabilities. Explore our portfolio of pioneering businesses that are creating value for our clients.