Press Release: Pixxel and Kita collaborate to mitigate carbon and nature-based risks
Pixxel, a US-India-based space technology company building the world's highest-resolution hyperspectral satellite constellation, today announced a partnership with Kita, a leading provider of insurance and risk monitoring services for carbon solutions.
With Pixxel’s hyperspectral data, Kita aims to enhance its suite of monitoring and insurance products for clients, including major commodity traders, international development banks, investment funds, and insurance companies managing large-scale sustainability-focused programmes.
Traditional methods of estimating above-ground biomass and growth for forestry projects rely on broad averages, leaving critical gaps in risk assessment. Pixxel’s hyperspectral data has the potential to bridge these gaps by enabling more granular and predictive approaches to habitat analysis and insurance-related risk assessment.
By capturing biophysical and biochemical indicators at a species level, Pixxel’s technology provides high-resolution insights into ecosystem health. Kita will use this data to further develop its risk modeling methodologies, with applications across blue carbon, afforestation, and vegetation stress assessment. These insights could support clients in assessing and mitigating risks associated with carbon projects, meeting sustainability commitments, and safeguarding fragile environments. Hyperspectral data also provides much-needed ways to monitor emerging carbon removal technologies such as regenerative agriculture, enhanced weathering and biochar.
"Kita's mission is to help fund the fight against climate change by managing the risks associated with investing in carbon solutions. Pixxel’s data will enable us to build the next generation of risk models to more accurately track emerging risks in real-time,” said Paul Young, CTO and Co-Founder of Kita. “Early identification of risks supports rapid risk mitigation, reducing losses and speeding up the claims process."
"The partnership with Kita underscores the potential of hyperspectral technology at the intersection of carbon and insurance markets," said Awais Ahmed, Founder and CEO of Pixxel. "By combining Pixxel’s data capabilities with Kita’s expertise, we are advancing the tools needed to support conservation-driven efforts, building a health monitor for the planet and empowering stakeholders to take meaningful climate action."
"We are excited to bring hyperspectral data into the realm of nature-based carbon project management with Kita," said Aakash Parekh, Chief Commercial Officer at Pixxel. “Nature-based projects are inherently difficult because they involve highly nuanced and diverse ecological systems that demand advanced solutions. Pixxel’s high-fidelity hyperspectral data provides the precision needed for species verification, predictive modelling of tree mortality rates, and dozens of other vital metrics to insure these projects effectively."
Pixxel just successfully launched three of its commercial hyperspectral satellites, Fireflies, aboard SpaceX’s Transporter-12. This launch marks the first phase of Pixxel’s commercial constellation, with three additional Firefly satellites scheduled to launch in Q2 2025. Together, these satellites will deliver comprehensive, real-time data collection and analysis across 150+ spectral bands at 5m resolution and 40 km swath width with a daily revisit rate.
With flexible tasking, customizable band sets, and simplified pricing, Pixxel’s technology aims to enhance monitoring accuracy, reliability, and scalability for nature-based solutions. Pixxel aims to equip industries and governments with insights to address global concerns, manage resources responsibly, and drive climate action.
With this partnership, Pixxel and Kita seek to redefine carbon monitoring and enable the development of advanced tools to help protect ecosystems and support stakeholders in achieving sustainability goals.
About Kita Earth
Kita is the carbon insurance specialist. Kita develops bespoke carbon insurance products and services that safeguard the quality and performance of carbon transactions. By reducing risk, carbon insurance channels investment towards high-quality carbon projects, enabling them to scale at the pace needed to address the climate crisis.
Kita is a coverholder at Lloyd’s of London, underwritten by Chaucer Group, Munich Re Innovation Syndicate, RenaissanceRe and Tokio Marine Kiln. Kita has been twice-nominated for the Earthshot Prize (2023 and 2024) and has received grants from the European Space Agency and UK Research and Innovation.
Kita Earth Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. The company is entered on the FCA register (www.fca.org.uk/register). Our Firm Reference Number is 998549.
For more information, visit www.kita.earth and follow Kita on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/kitaearth.
About Pixxel
Pixxel is a space data company and a spacecraft manufacturer redefining Earth observation with hyperspectral imaging. Pixxel's constellation of the world’s highest-resolution hyperspectral imaging satellites is designed for daily revisit frequency anywhere on Earth. It helps detect, monitor, and predict critical global phenomena across agriculture, oil and gas, mining, environment, and other sectors in up to 50x richer detail. Pixxel has also launched its in-house Earth Observation Studio, Aurora, to make satellite imagery analysis easily accessible.
Pixxel has raised $95 million from M&G Catalyst, Glade Brook Capital Partners, Google, Lightspeed, Radical Ventures and others. For more information, visit www.pixxel.space or follow Pixxel on Twitter and LinkedIn.