Argentine Wildfire AI Startup Raises $2.7M After Building a Detection System That Beats NASA’s Alerts by 35 Minutes
April 6, 2026 – 2:44 pm
Satellites on Fire, founded in 2020 as a school project by three Argentine teenagers, has closed a seed round led by Dalus Capital. Its software-only platform integrates satellite data from multiple agencies and detects fires faster than NASA’s FIRMS system by avoiding the gaps between satellite passes.
The Startup
The company builds an AI-powered wildfire detection platform that combines satellite imagery, tower cameras, fire propagation modeling, and real-time alerts, claiming to detect fires on average 35 minutes ahead of NASA’s FIRMS service.
Origin Story
Founded by Franco Rodriguez Viau, Ulises López Pacholczak, and Joaquín Chamo, then secondary school students at ORT Buenos Aires, the startup was inspired by family friends losing their homes to wildfires in Córdoba. Their initial project was rebuilt from scratch after they discovered its first version wasn’t operationally useful following interviews with over 80 firefighters and emergency responders.
Rodriguez Viau, now 22, serves as CEO. He was recognized by MIT Technology Review’s Spanish edition as one of its 35 Innovators Under 35 for Latin America in 2025.
Competitive Advantage
The platform stands out due to its satellite coverage density. NASA’s FIRMS service relies on a smaller number of satellites with revisit intervals that can leave multi-hour gaps over Latin American territories. Satellites on Fire aggregates imagery from more than eight satellites across NASA, NOAA, and the European Space Agency, updated every five minutes, and employs its own AI models to detect heat signatures and generate spread simulations.
Case Study
Newsweek reported in November 2025 a documented case in Argentina where the system detected a fire at 1:40 a.m., seven hours ahead of NASA’s alert.
Commercial Model
The commercial model is software-as-a-service, with pricing ranging from $0.02 to $10 per hectare annually depending on service tier. The platform currently monitors territory across 21 countries on four continents, serving over 55,000 users and leveraging a dataset of over 20,000 field-validated fire reports.
In 2025, the system was involved in the response to more than 600 wildfires, according to the company. Clients include forestry companies, agricultural enterprises, energy utilities, carbon credit projects, insurers, and government agencies. Aon has integrated the platform into all of its forestry insurance policies across Latin America for risk calculation and premium pricing.
Funding
The new capital will fund expansion into new territories and additional features.