Planet Labs in multi-year $230M deal for Pelican satellites

Planet Labs (PL) PBC announced the signing of a multi-year $230M agreement to expand its partnership with a long-standing, Asia-Pacific commercial partner. Pursuant to the agreement, Planet will build and deliver a constellation of new Pelican high resolution satellites, securing certain capacity on the satellites for the partner, in addition to providing operational services. Planet will leverage the increased capacity of the expanded fleet to serve its own government and commercial customers around the world. “Today’s announcement builds on Planet’s ability to leverage its advanced space systems capabilities and IP to create unique value for partners “This agreement represents a significant milestone for Planet, it is our largest contract to date, and is a major step forward in what we see as a very large market opportunity for satellite services,” said Will Marshall, Planet’s CEO and Co-founder. “These types of partnerships are a win-win: our partners gain critical satellite capabilities and priority access to leading-edge technology, while they help Planet accelerate key space programs and create synergistic benefits for all our customers. We are strategically pursuing a select number of similar opportunities, spanning our Pelican, Tanager and SuperDove satellites across the defense and intelligence, civil government, and commercial sectors.” Planet expects to recognize the $230M of commercial payments from the partner as revenue over the build and operational service period of the satellites, which is estimated to be approximately seven years. Today’s announcement does not change Planet’s previously issued fourth quarter financial guidance provided as part of the Company’s December 9, 2024, earnings release.