BlackSky has secured a $50 million senior secured loan from global satellite communications leader, Intelsat.
The transaction creates a strategic relationship that pairs Earth observation with a global communications infrastructure.
The new capital will allow BlackSky to augment existing assets and alliances, ensuring BlackSky remains a leader in delivering actionable Earth intelligence faster, with greater accuracy and more affordably than anyone else in the industry. Over time, BlackSky could incorporate access to Intelsat’s robust global communications infrastructure, delivering first-to-know insights to customers no matter where in the world they are.
“BlackSky is enabling a whole new level of global intelligence by leveraging the economics of small satellites so that our customers will always be the first to know,” said Brian E. O’Toole, president and CEO of BlackSky. “It takes a lot of expertise, engineering and capital to make smallsats viable; BlackSky is the first company to overcome these challenges with proven economies of scale. This latest partnership is a vote of confidence in our ability to deliver industry leading insights to our customers from one of the biggest players in the market.”
BlackSky currently has four 1-meter satellites in orbit with another four slated for launch in early 2020, and plans to have 16 satellites in its constellation by early 2021.
For this transaction, Evercore acted as a financial advisor to BlackSky, and PJT Partners acted as financial advisor to Intelsat.
BlackSky’s premier global monitoring and alerting services provide an easy, affordable way to observe, analyze and act on timely and relevant insights about the world.
