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 Data Collective, whose partner Zachary Bogue will join Planet Labs'
board, led an equity funding round of $70 million. Western
Technology Investment provided a debt facility of $25 million. All
existing investors, including SpaceX backer Draper Fisher Jurvetson
and Russian billionaire Yuri Milner, participated in the latest
equity round.
Planet Labs is one of several startups aiming to harness technology
allowing satellites to become smaller and less expensive, making it
easier to deploy large networks of satellites at less risk and lower
cost than previously.
As the pricetag of satellite images declines, the startups in the
industry say they hope to interest a wider range of customers who
would not previously have considered buying satellite-sourced data,
or would have bought it sparingly.
Planet Labs publicly names only two customers: Woolpert, the
Ohio-based engineering and design company, and Geoplex, the
Melbourne, Australia-based mapping company.
Google acquired one of the new satellite players, Skybox, for $500
million last year.
As with all new technology, the satellite startups face setbacks,
sometimes spectacular ones. In October, Planet Labs lost 26
satellites due for deployment via Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Antares
rocket, which exploded into a fireball just after launch in Wallops
Island, Virginia.
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Earlier this month, Planet Labs launched two more satellites on a
Falcon 9 rocket designed by SpaceX, the rocket company run by
entrepreneur Elon Musk. It has launched a total of 67 of its
satellites, which it calls doves, it says.
Planet Labs' latest funding round is all primary, meaning going
directly to the company rather than to buy the shares of existing
investors, a spokesman said.
(Reporting by Sarah McBride; Editing by Diane Craft)
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