US start-up Planet IQ is lining up investors for a private venture that could help the country fill its looming gap in satellite weather and climate data. Speaking to SatelliteFinance, CEO Anne Miglarese said the group is planning a funding round that…
US start-up Planet IQ is lining up investors for a private venture that could help the country fill its looming gap in satellite weather and climate data.
Speaking to SatelliteFinance, CEO Anne Miglarese said the group is planning a funding round that is expected to be all-equity to support its private sector solution, which would sell weather data collected by around 12 small spacecraft to the US government.
Recent government forecasts estimate the US is on course for a satellite data gap that could last 17-53 months or more – and could start as soon as 2014. The size of this gap will depend on how long existing services are able to last, and the severity of expected delays in the development and launch of the country’s next polar satellite system.
The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) has recently put the issue on its ‘High Risk’ list, because of how critical polar-orbiting birds are in forecasting natural disasters such as hurricanes.
Planet IQ claims its satellites would provide a cost effective solution at less risk than current government-funded efforts.
Miglarese said: “The PlanetIQ business plan requires approximately US$160m-US$185m depending on the number and timing of spacecraft launched to cover operating expenses, capital expenditures and working capital needs.”
The venture received an undisclosed initial equity investment when it was founded last year by US technology groups Broad Reach Engineering Company, Millennium Engineering and Integration, and Moog, which later acquired Broad Reach.
According to Miglarese, it is working with several investment bankers to initiate the next round of financing as private capital is ready and waiting to support the group.
“We have a targeted set of expected investors and have also received a number of unsolicited reverse inquiries from other private equity and venture capital investors,” she said.
However, speaking to Congress last month, Miglarese blamed the “government’s culture of build-and-own-your-own satellites and the inability to commit” for “holding back these job-creating funds”.
Miglarese urged Congress to use its oversight of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to follow a similar model adopted by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA).
A decade ago the NGA brought in a data purchase model to mitigate cost overruns and delays for its own imagery intelligence satellites, leading to the creation of GeoEye and DigitalGlobe, which later merged.
Miglarese said the satellite imagery sector is now a US$2bn global market, and a similar approach for NOAA would “spark a new American industry of commercial sources for weather and environmental data, and at the same time ensure the accuracy and advanced warning we have come to depend on for protecting lives, properties, economies and critical infrastructure”.
