Planet Labs to Acquire RapidEye

San Francisco, Calif., July 15, 2015--Planet Labs has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase the BlackBridge geospatial companies, including the RapidEye suite of core offerings.

Planet and BlackBridge have great mission alignment and have complementary capabilities. With BlackBridge, Planet Labs now has access to an extensive network of over 100 distribution channels and customers globally; and RapidEye’s comprehensive archive of six years of global imagery – 6 billion square kilometers at 5-meter resolution – allowing Planet Labs to bring one of the largest commercial satellite imagery datasets to the web, according to a company statement.

Planet’s goal is to provide universal access to information about our changing planet through a platform that includes the daily imaging data from Planet’s fleet of satellites, along with data from various other sources.

Ryan Johnson, BlackBridge CEO says: “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. The ability to lead the industry and adapt quickly to changing needs will be the key to continued success.”

Under Planet, Blackbridge will continue to operate the RapidEye fleet of satellites. This gives users in agriculture, energy & infrastructure, consumer mapping, government, business intelligence, environmental & social impact the information they need to be successful.

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close during the third quarter of 2015.