We’re building stratospheric technologies for smarter Earth observation.

At 16, Jonathan Polotto sees a stratospheric balloon experiment in the US and decides to replicate it. With just €1000 and a group of friends, he builds a polystyrene probe, equips it with an amateur camera and GPS receiver, and launches it. The probe reaches 36.000 m altitude, is recovered, and Jonathan is moved to tears watching the footage from above.

After a few years, Jonathan aims even higher and wants publicity. He secures a pizzeria sponsor, upgrades the probe’s electronics, and becomes the first person ever to send a pizza into the stratosphere reaching 47.000 m altitude. Media coverage is overwhelming: newspapers and TV pick up the story, and companies start contacting him to “send their products to space".

Riding the wave of unconventional launches, Jonathan establishes Involve Productions, an unconventional marketing agency. Between 2019 and 2020, he runs multiple brand-driven campaigns using stratospheric balloons for viral marketing activities. The revenue from these activities funds his next vision: an aerospace startup.

Involve Space is officially launched as an innovative startup. Jonathan sold the marketing agency project to focus on aerospace now. The first hire is Alessandro Piazza, Jonathan’s high‑school classmate and still software developer today; alongside him joins an industrial designer. Throughout 2021, the trio focuses on R&D: designing in‑house balloons, building tech probes, and refining launch and recovery processes.

In the second half of the year, the first science‑driven missions take off: environmental data analysis, aerial photography, in‑flight testing of satellite components. Engagements with ESA and ASI, plus mentorship from industry experts, accelerate technological maturity. That same year, Jonathan runs an humanitarian-educational lab in a Kenyan slum where children launch their own probe into the stratosphere. Thanks to the advertising on that project, Claudio Piazzai (now COO and Board member) wrote to Jonathan on Instagram: "Hey, nice to meet you! It seems like you do crazy things and we both want to do something big in our life".

Claudio injected a strategic long-term vision that transformed Involve from an experimental aerospace initiative into a growth-oriented deep-tech venture. The direction became clear: the stratosphere was a powerful yet underused layer for persistent Earth observation, bridging the gap between satellites and drones in cost, resolution, and flexibility. Raoul Vetere, mathematician and AI researcher, joined as Chief Scientist Officer. In 2023 Involve entered Takeoff Accelerator, one of Europe’s leading aerospace programs, securing €130,000 that helped catalyze the company’s first €500,000 pre-seed round with angel investors.

In 2024, after securing its first external capital, Involve deployed its first operational demonstrators. The company refined its core concept: constellations of stratospheric balloons enabling persistent monitoring and autonomous operations over large areas. This vision was supported by Neurostar, the AI flight-control software developed by Raoul Vetere. The team expanded with aerospace engineers, developers, and AI researchers. Rocco Corsini became Chief Engineer, structuring the engineering roadmap and accelerating platform development. Successful demonstrations attracted international investors, leading to a €2.5M seed round led by Earlybird with CDP Venture Capital and TLI Space.

In January 2025 Involve conducted its first stratospheric launch from the United States at Houston Spaceport, confirming its ability to operate from major aerospace hubs. Commercial traction followed, with contracts for infrastructure monitoring, Earth observation and security applications, reaching over €3.5M in signed agreements and proving the viability of persistent stratospheric observation as a new Earth-intelligence layer. The team surpassed 20 employees and expanded commercial and financial functions. Aerospace engineer Ettore De Lellis, formerly at Lilium and CIRA, joined the company. In 2025 Involve also became a B Corporation.

At the beginning of 2026, the European Commission selected Involve among the winners of the highly competitive EIC Accelerator. The award provides a €12.5M package combining grant funding and equity from the EIC Fund to accelerate development and commercialization. The milestone strengthened the company’s financial position and supported a broader vision: evolving from a stratospheric platform developer into a planetary intelligence infrastructure company. This direction materializes in CLEAR, Involve’s GeoAI platform that converts geospatial data from proprietary and third-party sources into actionable insights, forming the basis of a real-time Earth intelligence system.