Satellite imagery company Planet Labs is going public, backed by Google, BlackRock and Marc Benioff

Satellite imagery and data specialist Planet Labs is preparing to go public, announcing on Wednesday that it will merge with a SPAC to list on the New York Stock Exchange.

Planet Labs is combining with special purpose acquisition company dMY Technology Group IV, which trades on the NYSE under ticker DMYQ. The deal gives the space company a $2.8 billion equity valuation and is expected to close in the fourth quarter, resulting in Planet listing on the NYSE under ticker PL.

“Planet is a data company … we’re a mature business and have a massive new and unique data set of our 190 satellites, the largest Earth imaging fleet ever, and more than 10 times anyone else,” Planet co-founder and CEO Will Marshall told CNBC.

Shares of DMYQ rose 1.7% in trading to close at $9.97.

Cofounder and CEO Will Marshall

Planet

The deal is expected to raise $434 million in total for Planet, including a $200 million PIPE round – or private investment in public equity – led by BlackRock and joined by Google, Koch, and Marc Benioff’s TIME Ventures. Previously, Planet raised more than $380 million in capital from investors including Google, DFJ, Lux Capital, DCVC, Founders Fund, Space Capital, and more.

“I’m really excited by having such quality partners as we go into this important milestone for planet,” Marshall said. “We’re doing this for the long haul.”

Planet joins a trend of space companies going public through SPAC deals, with Virgin Galactic the first of the recent generation in 2019. Rocket builder Astra and satellite broadband focused AST & Science have each begun trading, with companies Rocket LabSpire GlobalBlackSkyRedwire, Satellogic, and Momentus expected to follow in the coming months.

A data subscription business

A set of SkySat satellites before a launch.

Planet

“Analytics are foundational to the biggest trillion dollar trends happening in the global economy with digital transformation of various industries,” Marshall said. “‘You can’t manage what you can’t measure.”

He analogized Planet as a data business, rather than a satellite company, in the same way as Google is a search engine and advertising business, rather than server company.

“They have servers in the backend, yes … Planet has satellites in the back end and we’re really good at them,” Marshall said . “But we’re a data business – we sell data to our clients; that’s the value that they get”

Over $100 million last year

Speak Your Mind

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Get in Touch

350FansLike
100FollowersFollow
281FollowersFollow
150FollowersFollow

Recommend for You

Oh hi there 👋
It’s nice to meet you.

Subscribe and receive our weekly newsletter packed with awesome articles that really matters to you!

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

You might also like

Mindset Matters: Invisible Disabilities And The Future Of Work...

Finding A New Normal As the world begins to catch its breath and realizes that...

Indian Oil Sees Gasoil, Petrol Sales At Pre-pandemic Levels...

OIL-APPEC-INDIANOIL:Indian Oil sees gasoil, petrol sales at pre-pandemic levels in first half of FY21 ...

Rexy Rolle Is An Airline VP, Attorney And Artist...

Rexy Rolle stands in front of an aircraft of...