{"id":18390,"date":"2018-08-21T17:01:46","date_gmt":"2018-08-21T09:01:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/orrery-ai-aims-to-turn-streams-of-data-into-secret-weapon-for-strategic-investment\/"},"modified":"2018-08-21T17:01:46","modified_gmt":"2018-08-21T09:01:46","slug":"orrery-ai-aims-to-turn-streams-of-data-into-secret-weapon-for-strategic-investment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/orrery-ai-aims-to-turn-streams-of-data-into-secret-weapon-for-strategic-investment\/","title":{"rendered":"Orrery.ai aims to turn streams of data into secret weapon for strategic investment"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Chipsats\"
Chipsats like the ones shown here could provide streams of radar data for processing by Orrery.ai\u2019s algorithms. (Photo courtesy of Orrery.ai)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Satellites, sensors, social media and purchasing data provide terabytes\u2019 worth of information about how the global economy is working \u2014 and the insights gleaned from that data can be more precious than gold.<\/p>\n

But what\u2019s the best way to extract the gold from the dross? That\u2019s where longtime space entrepreneur Dick Rocket intends to step in with a stealthy venture called Orrery.ai.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a gap between the data analysis firms and the financial sector,\u201d Rocket told GeekWire this week. \u201cThat is our gap.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rocket launched Orrery.ai about a year ago, with backing from angel investors, but he and a small executive team are just now ramping up a more ambitious private funding campaign. They\u2019re also mulling over where to put their headquarters. (The Seattle area is in the mix, along with sites in Florida, Texas, New York and Georgia.)<\/p>\n

One of the key tasks ahead will be to fine-tune a set of machine-learning algorithms that can process publicly available data as well as proprietary data sets and satellite imagery to produce business insights.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are literally millions of data sources that are available to us,\u201d said Jason Evans, a tech startup veteran who serves as Orrery.ai\u2019s chief technical officer.<\/p>\n

\"Dick
Richard M. David adopted the name Dick Rocket to reflect his passion for the final frontier. (Photo courtesy of Dick Rocket)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Space companies such as Spire Global and Seattle-based BlackSky already offer satellite data that can be used to figure out whose ship traffic is increasing, whose crops are doing well, or which retail chain\u2019s parking lots are full. But they leave it up to their customers \u2014 including financial analysts and hedge fund managers \u2014 to decide what to do with that information.<\/p>\n

In contrast, Orrery.ai would reserve the insights for its own use, although there may be some data-sharing deals on the side. \u201cWe don\u2019t want anyone knowing what we know,\u201d Rocket said.<\/p>\n

Everything that Orrery.ai comes to know would be applied to strategic investments made through a separate but allied venture called The 2020 Fund. Rocket is already thinking big about how The 2020 Fund would leverage Orrery.ai\u2019s proprietary data analysis to make money for its investors.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are here to destroy all the bad companies that are publicly traded, and make sure that great companies shine,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Rocket, who co-founded NewSpace Global in 2011 to offer business intelligence about emerging space companies, doesn\u2019t pull any punches. During this week\u2019s telephone interview, he freely dropped F-bombs when discussing the objects of his scorn (such as SpaceX and Elon Musk).<\/p>\n

He\u2019s held forth about the commercial space industry on media outlets such as CNBC, Fox News, Forbes, Fortune and \u201cThe Space Show\u201d and has shepherded various investments in space ventures. Rocket, who was born Richard M. David, even adopted a spacey last name in honor of his interest in the final frontier.<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s the space angle to Orrery.ai? \u201cI thought you\u2019d never ask,\u201d Rocket said.<\/p>\n

The plan calls for Orrery.ai to start off buying data from the likes of Spire Global or Planet, but eventually have its own satellites put into orbit. The strategy would take advantage of the fast-falling costs and fast-rising capabilities associated with small satellites.<\/p>\n

Rocket envisions deploying a fleet of credit-card-sized \u201cchipsats,\u201d equipped with radar instruments to collect and beam down data day and night, whether it\u2019s cloudy or clear.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur secret sauce is synthetic aperture radar,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A lot of the details behind Orrery.ai are still up in the air, ranging from who would make the satellites, to who would launch them, to how they\u2019d be paid for. Rocket said that he\u2019s been in contact with a host of well-known space companies and organizations about filling in those details, and that the first deals could be nailed down within the next few weeks.<\/p>\n

Will all the anticipated deals come to fruition? Time will tell, but Rocket realizes he doesn\u2019t have an unlimited amount of time. He\u2019s been diagnosed with a type of blood cancer that could turn into a life-threatening condition.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to cure cancer in space. \u2026 That\u2019s why I\u2019m so intense about selling this, because I\u2019m not on other people\u2019s schedule,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t expect to live to 100, unless I go in space, in which case I want to die of natural causes in orbit.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chipsats like the ones shown here could provide streams of radar data for processing by Orrery.ai\u2019s algorithms. (Photo courtesy of Orrery.ai) Satellites, sensors, social media and purchasing data provide terabytes\u2019 worth of information about how the global economy is working \u2014 and the insights gleaned from that data can be more precious than gold. But what\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3735,291,5186,5187,5188,20],"class_list":["post-18390","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-big-data","tag-commercial-space","tag-data-insights","tag-dick-rocket","tag-orrery-ai","tag-satellite"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18390"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18390"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18390\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}