In this article, satellite imagery and data analysis company Planet revealed that it had secured a $230 million contract on Wednesday, with a key customer advancing the deployment of its next-generation Pelican satellites. Planet CEO Will Marshall expressed that this deal marked a significant milestone for the company, stating, “It is a momentum-building event… It’s both our biggest deal ever and it’s a significant step for us into this satellite services business.”
The agreement entails the construction of Pelican satellites for a company in the Asia-Pacific region, with the customer to be disclosed at a later date. Marshall mentioned that the contract involves a timeframe of “a couple of years to construct” the satellites, followed by five years of operation. The customer will have exclusive access to the launched satellites within their area of interest in Asia, while Planet will have the rights to license the data globally.
Although the contract does not alter Planet’s previous fiscal 2025 fourth-quarter projections, the company anticipates financial benefits to materialize in fiscal 2026. Revenue from satellite construction and services will be recognized over approximately seven years. Planet, which currently operates over 200 satellites, introduced plans for the advanced Pelican satellite series in 2021, aiming to replace the SkySat satellites acquired from Google in 2017. The company plans to deploy up to 32 Pelican satellites, with the recent launch of Pelican-2 featuring Nvidia’s Jetson edge artificial intelligence platform for enhanced data processing.
Marshall highlighted the company’s accelerated scaling due to improved financial capabilities, enabling the construction of a larger subset of the Pelican satellite constellation. Planet’s stock surged by 14% in Wednesday’s trading before settling 1.65% higher by the end of the day. The company also announced a multiyear contract with the European Space Agency on Tuesday, further solidifying its market presence.
Marshall emphasized that the Pelican deal signifies Planet’s foray into the satellite services market, offering its spacecraft as a customizable platform for specific clients. This move builds on the success of the Tanager satellite product line, initially developed for Carbon Mapper. Marshall noted, “These customers are often customers we’ve been working with for years, so they already know and trust our data and our ability to execute.”
Planet went public in 2021 during the SPAC boom, experiencing fluctuations in stock performance in subsequent years. Despite challenges such as missed revenue targets and layoffs, the company’s shares have rebounded in 2024. While not outperforming other space-focused stocks, Planet’s shares have more than doubled in value over the past year, according to FactSet data.
