Marble Imaging Raises ~$6.7M Seed Extension Led by Cherry Ventures

Marble Imaging, a Bremen, Germany-based Earth observation startup, has raised an additional €6 million (about $6.7 million) led by Cherry Ventures, extending its seed round, Tech.eu reported on Nov. 9. The company did not disclose a valuation.

The extension follows a €5.3 million seed round led by High-Tech Gründerfonds, announced in December 2025, bringing Marble Imaging's disclosed seed funding to roughly €11.3 million. Other participants in the new tranche were not named.

Building Germany's Own Eyes in Orbit

Founded in August 2023, Marble Imaging is building what it calls Germany's first commercial constellation of very-high-resolution (VHR) Earth observation satellites, with the aim of delivering imagery as often as every hour. Its first satellite, Marble Sat-1, is fully funded, has completed pre-flight testing and is scheduled to launch in early 2027. It is designed for up to 0.7-metre resolution in the visible and near-infrared spectrum and will also collect short-wave infrared data.

The company pairs that hardware with an AI-powered analytics platform. Existing services include object detection, terrain analysis and trafficability assessment, coastal asset monitoring and land cover classification, aimed at defence, civil security, critical infrastructure, and climate, crisis and disaster management. The team includes co-founder and CEO Robert Hook, chief science officer Dr Gopika Suresh, chief commercial officer Alexander Epp and lead instrument scientist Dr Raul Scarlat.

Scaling to 30 Satellites

The new capital will go toward scaling the constellation, which Marble Imaging aims to grow to 30 satellites by 2030. Its target markets also include the energy transition and infrastructure and mobility.

"To make better decisions, data access must be immediate and actionable," Hook said. "Europe and many of its global partners lack this capability today." He added that the company is "determined to close this gap, and Cherry's trust helps us achieve this faster."

The Investor View

Filip Dames, founding partner at Cherry Ventures, framed the bet around sovereignty and said the product Marble will deliver does not yet exist in Europe. "Europe needs its own eyes in space, and Marble Imaging is building them," he said, adding that the team is "using AI to turn pixels into answers, exactly what government and defence customers need."

Why It Matters

Tech.eu framed the deal around satellite sovereignty, and the pitch is explicitly European: Hook and Dames both argue that Europe lacks its own source of very-high-resolution, frequently refreshed imagery. That puts Marble Imaging in front of government and defence buyers that are prioritising capability they control.

The extension adds a second lead investor in under a year, with Cherry Ventures following High-Tech Gründerfonds onto the cap table. Structuring the new money as an extension of the seed, rather than a new round, keeps the company in seed territory while Marble Sat-1 is still on the ground.

That launch is the near-term test. Until the first satellite is operating, the company's value rests on its analytics services and its 2030 plan; once it is, the question becomes how quickly it can turn one satellite into a constellation.

Source

Tech.eu — Satellite sovereignty takes centre stage as Marble Imaging raises €6M