Nuview Plans to Map Earth, Backed by Leonard DeCaprio

Nuview, a lidar satellite company established to record and map global temperatures, has hit $15 million in funding for its technology.

Leonardo DiCaprio was also announced as an investor, with the actor and environmentalist joining the consortium of investors that includes MaC Venture Capital, Broom Ventures, Cortado, Florida Funders, Industrious, Liquid2, and Veto Capital.

The funds will be used to help Nuview pursue its mission of creating the world’s first commercial lidar satellite constellation to map the Earth’s surface and temperature changes.

While traditional satellite imagery has been instrumental in the fight against climate change, Nuview says lidar will provide more detailed and accurate imagery. It intends its constellation to create a 3D map of the entire Earth each year to track changes over time.

"We are thrilled to have Mr. DiCaprio's support and other environmental advocates onboard that share our Nuview values to address global environmental challenges," said Clint Graumann, Nuview CEO. "Our space-based lidar technology can revolutionize how we monitor Earth's resources and ecosystems, providing us with the data necessary to make informed decisions and implement effective solutions."

"Nuview's cutting-edge technology will set itself apart by generating high-resolution, 3D images of the Earth's surface, intending to improve our ability to monitor and protect the planet with much more accuracy," said Leonardo DiCaprio. "This unprecedented dataset will help enable scientists, policymakers, and conservationists to make more informed decisions and uncover valuable new insights in climate science."

According to Nuview, the satellite constellation will be most useful for national mapping initiatives and organizations looking to monitor and mitigate natural disasters and climate change.

The company emerged from stealth in May, announcing its plan to send a total of 20 lidar-enabled satellites into orbit. A proprietary satellite will be launched initially to demonstrate the lidar, with the commercial constellation planned to be launched after this.