HawkEye 360 Closes $58 Million Series D-1 Focused on Constellation Capacity-Building

Radio frequency (RF) Geospatial intelligence company HawkEye 360 announced on July 13th that it has closed a $58 million Series D-1 funding round. The company, based in Herndon, Virginia, said in its announcement that it will be used “to develop new space systems and expand analytics that support high-value defense missions”.

The round was led by Blackrock, with additional funding by Manhattan Venture Partners, as well as funding by existing investors “including Insight Partners, NightDragon, Strategic Development Fund (SDF), Razor’s Edge, Alumni Ventures, and Adage Capital.”

In a conversation with SpaceRef, HawkEye VP of Marketing Adam Bennett elaborated on HawkEye and its goals for the funding round. 

Bennett said that what makes HawkEye 360 unique is that it is “the first commercial company to introduce satellites [that are] able to detect, characterize, and geolocate radio wave signals around the globe.” The company uses three-sat “clusters” to detect, characterize, and geolocate RF signals coming from terrestrial emitters. At the moment, they have seven of these clusters, adding up to a constellation of 21 satellites total, with a revisit time—the amount of time it takes to make a second observation of a given location—of around an hour. 

The clusters use a technique called “trilateration,” which measures slight differences in the frequency and timing of near-identical signals to determine the location of the emitters, and can analyze other characteristics to gain more information on the nature of the signal. 

These pinpointed signal locations can be further analyzed to determine if there is unusual activity in the area; Bennett gave the example of detecting and alerting government customers in situations where illegal fishing is happening within protected waters. This use case was part of a recent release from HawkEye 360, regarding a contract with the Commonwealth of Australia, as well as a video presentation from HawkEye 360 on fishing vessels encroaching near the Galapagos Islands. 

Bennett said that their RF Geointelligence also works well for “tipping and cueing;” if the satellites detect something that seems out of place, other earth observation satellites (like hyperspectral and synthetic aperture radar sats) or even a UAV or local vessel can be tasked to take a closer look. 

HawkEye 360 has been consistently expanding its constellation, with the most recent cluster, cluster 7, becoming operational in early June. The company plans to keep expanding until its satellites have a revisit rate of half an hour or less. But the investment isn’t aimed at the expansion; Bennett said that the new funding is aimed at their next set of satellites, “Block 3”, which will be focused on creating a new class of satellites with new capabilities, as well as expanding HawkEye 360’s analytical capabilities. 

The key questions, Bennett said, are “How do we take the on-orbit capabilities to extend [and] expand what we offer?” and “How do we better improve the analytics [by] applying machine learning techniques to get the maximum value out of the immense amount of data we’re collecting?” It has become “a big data question,” he added, and a big aspect of the company’s R&D investments will center on how it can “effectively focus our customers on the most important data.”

Bennett said that the new investment also shows that “HawkEye 360 checks off the list of a lot of the things that investors look for. It’s a quality investment … we’ve been operating since 2015, [and] we’ve been producing good results with proven outcomes. That’s why we’ve had a successful round and why we’re excited about where the future is leading.”

He said that the company is well-suited for national security, defense, and other public-sector customers. Bennett also quoted company CEO John Serafini as saying “If you’re going to serve defense intelligence needs, you really have to make it your major focus. It can’t be something you dabble in.” Natsec, defense, and other public sector customers have exacting requirements, and Bennett attributes part of the company’s success to fulfilling those requirements. 

While this does mean they have more of a governmental focus, Bennett said that “There’s potentially other use cases and applications” in the private sector for HawkEye 360’s data and their approach.

Correction (July 27, 2023): The headline of this article incorrectly stated that HawkEye 360 raised $38 million rather than $58 million. SpaceRef regrets the error.
Editor’s note (August 1, 2023): The headline of this article has been further changed to say “Series D-1” rather than “Series D” to clarify that this was Hawkeye 360’s second Series D round.