Satellites on Fire, originating in 2020 as a school project by three Argentine students, has secured a seed round led by Dalus Capital. Their software platform uses satellite data from various agencies to detect fires faster than NASA’s FIRMS system by filling the gaps between satellite passes.
Argentine climate-tech startup Satellites on Fire has successfully closed a $2.7 million seed round led by Dalus Capital, with backing from Draper Associates, Draper Cygnus, VitaminC, Savia Ventures, Avesta Fund, Reciprocal, Zenani Capital, Innventure, Air Capital, Gain VC, Antom VC, and Embarca Tech.
The company develops an AI-driven wildfire detection system that integrates satellite images, tower cameras, fire modeling, and real-time alerts, claiming its system detects fires 35 minutes earlier on average than NASA’s FIRMS service.
Founded in 2020 by Franco Rodriguez Viau, Ulises López Pacholczak, and Joaquín Chamo, initially secondary school students at ORT Buenos Aires, it emerged after Rodriguez Viau’s family friends lost their homes to wildfires in Córdoba.
What started as a school project was completely reworked after interviewing over 80 firefighters and responders, determining the initial version was ineffective. Rodriguez Viau, now 22, acts as CEO.
MIT Technology Review’s Spanish edition recognized him as one of its 35 Innovators Under 35 for Latin America in 2025.
The platform’s advantage lies in increased satellite coverage. NASA’s FIRMS service uses fewer satellites with multi-hour revisit gaps over Latin America.
Satellites on Fire combines images from over eight satellites from NASA, NOAA, and the European Space Agency, updating every five minutes, and uses AI to detect heat signatures and simulate spread.
The company reports its system consistently identifies fires 35 minutes before NASA alerts, crucial for early containment. Newsweek detailed a case in November 2025 in Argentina where a fire was detected at 1:40 a.m., seven hours before NASA’s alert.
The business model is software-as-a-service, with pricing from $0.02 to $10 per hectare annually based on service level. It covers territory in 21 countries on four continents, with over 55,000 users and a dataset built from 20,000 validated fire reports, the largest in Latin America.
In 2025, the system was involved in responding to more than 600 wildfires, according to the company, serving forestry companies, agricultural firms, energy utilities, carbon credit projects, insurers, and governments. Aon has integrated the platform in all its Latin America forestry insurance policies for risk and premium calculations.
The new funds will support expansion into the US market, with ongoing pilots and a partnership with Watch Duty, the wildfire tracking nonprofit.
Funds will also enhance AI models, launch a new wildfire insurance product with Aon, and develop an intelligence dashboard for protection planning.
Rodriguez Viau has expressed intentions to venture into suppression technology using drones. The US is a primary target due to wildfires costing hundreds of billions annually, with the 2025 Los Angeles fires increasing attention on detection gaps.
John Mills, CEO of Watch Duty and an advisor to Satellites on Fire, noted the platform’s satellite data results were ‘genuinely astounding’ to his team. Diego Serebrisky, co-founder and managing partner at Dalus Capital, highlighted this round as proving Latin American founders are offering globally competitive AI solutions for climate challenges.
The company previously received $250,000 from Tim Draper and Adam Draper after participating in Meet the Drapers Season 9, and received accolades from the UN and support from MIT and Cornell University in earlier stages