California-based Earth observation start-up Planet Labs is to acquire geospatial solutions group BlackBridge, including its RapidEye constellation of satellite imaging spacecraft. Financial details were not disclosed. Will Marshall, Planet Labs’…
California-based Earth observation start-up Planet Labs is to acquire geospatial solutions group BlackBridge, including its RapidEye constellation of satellite imaging spacecraft.
Financial details were not disclosed.
Will Marshall, Planet Labs’ co-founder and CEO, described the deal as “a strategic move by Planet to expand quickly into new segments and gain access to a robust imagery archive”.
He added that the company would now have access to an extensive network of over 100 distribution channels and customers globally. It is also acquiring RapidEye’s six-year global imagery archive, representing six billion square kilometers at five-metre resolution.
The BlackBridge group comprises three businesses: Germany-based Earth observation operator RapidEye, Geomatics Canada and Canadian technology services provider BlackBridge Networks Services.
Blackbridge acquired the former after it filed for Germany’s equivalent of US Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in June 2011, following breaches to several loan covenants. RapidEye officially changed its name to BlackBridge in November 2013 after a two-year process of uniting all BlackBridge-owned companies as one presence in the marketplace.
In May 2014, Blackbridge secured C$22m in financing from the Bank of Montreal and the Business Development Bank of Canada to fund the next generation of RapidEye Earth imaging satellites. The constellation of five satellites are called RapidEye+ and are expected to launch in 2019.
Commenting on the Planet Labs acquisition in an open letter, Blackbridge CEO Ryan Johnson said: “We have spent a significant amount of time with the Planet Labs management team over the past few months and feel that we are completely aligned on the long-term vision for the company and the role that BlackBridge will play.
“The combination of BlackBridge’s downstream knowledge and global reach, with Planet Labs’ strategy for agile aerospace, will create a long-term competitive advantage for the combined company.”
Planet Labs’s goal is to provide universal access to an automated platform that includes daily imaging data from its fleet of satellites, along with data from various other sources.
The company raised a total US$95m at the start of this year, split between a US$70m series C funding round led by venture capital firm Data Collective and a US$25m loan facility from venture debt fund Western Technology Investment. The majority of this will go towards funding the Blackbridge acquisition.
Planet Labs’s other investors include Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ), Yuri Milner, Capricorn Investment Management, O’Reilly Alpha Tech Ventures (OATV), Founders Fund Angel, First Round Capital, and Innovation Endeavors.
Steve Jurvetson, board member of Planet Labs, Tesla, SpaceX and partner at DFJ, said: “Planet Labs is leading the pack of private space companies by combining innovative data analysis and agile aerospace technologies. With today’s acquisition of BlackBridge, Planet Labs has brought this agility to their business and identified a strategic opportunity to advance the market of geospatial data on the web.”
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close during the third quarter of 2015.
Blackbridge was advised by BlackArch Partners and BMO on the acquisition with McCarthy Tétrault LLP providing legal advice.
