From Earth observation to everyday decisions: Simactis makes mobility simulation more accessible

Simactis Spatial Intelligence was founded in Sweden in 2024 and is building Simulate, a platform that lets planners and others explore how changes to streets and transport affect everyday life before any decision is made. Since joining ESA BIC Sweden, Simactis has made its first sale of its transport-network tool Tapestry and the interest from pilot users has been very high.

How and when did your journey begin as a startup, working with space-related tech?
Simactis was founded in Sweden in 2024. Our aim is to make advanced mobility simulation accessible to a much wider audience, including people without specialist expertise. Our focus is on helping people understand how changes to infrastructure and transport affect everyday life. Building useful simulations requires substantial work to prepare the underlying data. We saw an opportunity to automate more of that process using AI and geospatial data, with satellite imagery providing a connection to space technology.

What does Simactis do, how is it connected to space and what is your aim with your startup and Simulate?
We are developing Simulate, a platform that enables people to explore different mobility scenarios before making decisions. For example, how might a change to a street network affect travel patterns or accessibility? Our space connection is Earth observation. Our development approach includes using satellite imagery alongside other geospatial sources to build the inputs that simulations need, such as transport networks and land-use information.

Our aim is to make advanced mobility simulation accessible to a much wider audience, including people without specialist expertise. Municipalities and planners are our next step, but our ambition goes further. We believe a much broader community will find uses for this technology in the coming years, and we want to make it easier for them to explore questions and understand the consequences of different choices.

What have you been up to since you started your incubation with ESA BIC Sweden?
We have made progress both technically and commercially. One milestone was our first sale of Tapestry, our transport-network generation tool.
We have also secured funding for collaborative projects through Vinnova FFI, the Swedish Energy Agency and ShiftSweden. Our collaborations include the City of Gothenburg, Spacescape, Thyréns, Lund University and Malmö University, giving us opportunities to develop and evaluate our technology together with municipalities, researchers and industry partners.

Alongside this, we have continued developing Simulate and building relationships with potential users. The level of interest has been very encouraging, so much so that we have had to pause taking on additional pilot participants to make sure we can properly support those already involved. ESA BIC’s support helps us bring in additional resources and manage that demand as we grow.

What is in the pipeline for you now?
Our main priority is getting Simulate into the hands of our initial municipal pilot users and learning from their experience. This means developing the interface, bringing the technical components together and making sure the platform is useful and approachable for people with different levels of technical experience. We are also working with partners on transport-network quality and on how data and simulation can support decisions about parking and urban space. We are preparing towards a planned Simulate launch at Transportforum in January 2027.

What do you think about the space industry in Sweden right now and in the future?
From our perspective, one of the most exciting opportunities is turning space data into practical tools for people working on the ground.
We see considerable potential in connecting Earth observation with AI and simulation. For us, the value lies in helping someone answer a concrete question or make a better-informed decision. We hope to see more collaboration between the space sector and the organisations and communities that can put its technology to use.

What advice would you give to other startups that are thinking about joining the space industry or applying to ESA BIC Sweden?
Start with a real customer problem and explain clearly how space technology helps you solve it. You do not need to build satellites to have a meaningful connection to the space industry. For an ESA BIC application, be clear about what you have already demonstrated, what still needs to be developed and how the support would help you reach your next milestone.

What has been the most valuable part of being in ESA BIC Sweden?
For us, the combination of funding, mentoring and support in developing the business has been particularly valuable. As a small team, we need to make progress on technology, customer relationships and the company itself at the same time. Having people who follow our progress and challenge our plans helps us step back from daily tasks and think about the next stage. With interest from potential users growing faster than our capacity, that combination of practical resources and guidance is especially valuable.

Step into Simactis’ webpage here