Born from Wildfire

In 2020, wildfires devastated homes in Cordoba, Argentina. Three high school students — Franco Rodriguez Viau, Ulises Lopez Pacholczak, and Joaquin Chamo — decided to do something about it. They built Satellites on Fire, a platform that combines satellite imagery updated every five minutes, tower cameras, fire propagation simulations, and real-time alerts delivered via WhatsApp, email, and SMS to detect wildfires 35 minutes ahead of NASA FIRMS.

What started as a high school project has grown into a global operation. Satellites on Fire has responded to over 600 wildfires across 21 countries on four continents, protecting 56 million hectares. The company raised a $2.7M seed round led by Dalus Capital and is now expanding into the United States.

From Argentina to the World

CEO Franco Rodriguez Viau, now 22, was named to MIT Technology Review's "35 Innovators Under 35" list for Latin America in 2025. With 55,000+ users already on the platform, Satellites on Fire is developing parametric wildfire insurance in partnership with AON — turning early detection data into a financial product that could reshape how wildfire risk is managed globally. In a world where wildfire seasons are getting longer and more destructive, speed of detection is everything.