Urthecast rises after inking deal with Pepsi

Shares of Urthecast (Urthecast Stock Quote, Chart, News: TSX:UR) are up today after the company announced a deal with PepsiCo Inc.

Under the arrangement, Urthecast will deliver full-colour, ultrahigh-definition video footage of Earth. Pepsi will use this footage for its “Pepsi Challenge”.

“Enabling world change is especially important to us; in fact, it’s the core of the UrtheCast vision,” said CEO Scott Larson. “We’re truly excited to see the ways in which the new Pepsi Challenge will allow us to harness UrtheCast’s technology. This is proving to be a highly innovative collaboration and we can’t wait to reveal what’s coming around the corner.”

Pepsi this week announced an update to its wildly successful “Pepsi Challenge” campaign of forty years ago. The yearlong promotion will use celebrities like Serena Williams and Usain Bolt to encourage consumers to engage in a series of localized challenges it will promote through social media.

An early entry into the fledgling Earth Observation market, Vancouver-based Urthcast aims to deliver a near realtime stream of Earth in Ultra-HD through cameras placed on the International Space Station. The company expects to target defense and government agencies, but also broader commercial markets such as the news media, agriculture and environmental monitoring.

At press time, shares of Urthecast were up 8.4% to $1.94