LiveEO secures €28 million for its satellite system focused on civil infrastructure.

      The Berlin-based geospatial-AI firm has completed the initial tranche of its latest funding round, with backing from defence venture capital firm Helantic, along with Nordic Ninja, MMC, and the EIC. The majority of the funds will support the same product. The shift in strategy pertains to the new potential buyers of the product.

      By 2026, funding rounds in European defence technology are no longer based solely on a defensive angle. On Tuesday, LiveEO, located in Berlin, revealed a €28 million initial closing for its upcoming funding round, which included new investments from dedicated defence venture fund Helantic and the European Innovation Council (EIC), alongside b2ventures.

      The existing investors—Nordic Ninja, DeepTech & Climate Fonds, Matterwave Ventures, MMC Ventures, Segenia Capital, and Greencode Ventures—largely consist of the same group that supported the company’s €25 million Series B round in June 2024, aimed at addressing climate risk and essential infrastructure.

      The changes in the composition of the cap table highlight the evolution. According to LiveEO, the product itself remains unchanged, but the strategic focus now includes a broader range of potential customers.

      Founded in 2018 in Berlin by Daniel Seidel and Sven Przywarra, LiveEO began when they identified an underserved niche between the availability of satellite data and its industrial application. Seidel studied aeronautical engineering and astronautics at RWTH Aachen, while Przywarra studied industrial engineering and management at TU Berlin. They connected at an aerospace exhibition and embarked on an eight-year journey to develop a platform that bridges this gap.

      Currently, the company offers three main products: TradeAware (compliance with EU Deforestation Regulation), Treeline (vegetation management for utilities and rail operators), and SurfaceScout (pipeline monitoring for oil and gas).

      LiveEO's client base has expanded significantly, now serving utilities, rail operators, and pipeline networks across five continents with a consistently enterprise-focused commercial model: long-term monitoring contracts, integration via APIs into existing operator workflows, and AI-driven risk prioritization outputs that clients can directly feed into their inspection and maintenance strategies.

      Earlier this year, LiveEO unveiled its own satellite constellation, Twinspector, specifically engineered for imaging infrastructure corridors (the elongated, narrow areas occupied by power lines, railways, and pipelines) at resolutions up to 35 cm in 3D stereo. Reflex Aerospace was chosen to create the satellite platforms, and in April 2026, the European Space Agency’s InCubed programme awarded LiveEO a seven-figure contract for the constellation.

      The recent strategic announcement consists of two key components, both significant. The first is straightforward: the company has acquired new growth capital from the same established deeptech and climate investing group already familiar with the business, with the addition of institutional validation from the European Innovation Council.

      The previous €25 million funding round was specifically aimed at civil infrastructure and climate risk applications, while the newly announced €28 million initial closing represents a measured advancement in scale.

      The second part of the announcement highlights changes in the cap table. Helantic, the leading new institutional investor, is a dedicated defence venture fund. LiveEO's press release clarifies the rationale: “The same satellite and AI stack that has been validated for civil applications is equally relevant to intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR), infrastructure security, and situational awareness.” This statement signifies the strategic pivot, particularly noteworthy for a company initially focused on monitoring utility vegetation.

      LiveEO is now staking a claim in the same broader arena as the likes of Helsing, which has emerged as Europe's largest defence-AI operator, aligning itself with military VLA models in partnership with Mistral, but approaching it from the geospatial-data perspective instead of the autonomous systems angle.

      At present, LiveEO stands out as one of the strategically positioned European Earth observation companies in 2026, reflecting a cap table that bridges the interests of civil infrastructure, climate, and defence investors, with a product roadmap that encompasses satellite manufacturing, AI orchestration, and enterprise inspection routing.

      The €28 million initial close marks the beginning of a new phase rather than the conclusion of the funding round. What transpires in the upcoming months will determine if the dual-use thesis becomes the foundational model for European deeptech or if it collapses under the realities of procurement.