Planet Labs
PLPlanet Labs PBC is a leading Earth observation company operating the largest fleet of Earth-imaging satellites ever deployed.
- Founded
- 2010
- Headquarters
- San Francisco, United States
- Stage
- Public
- Ownership
- Listed
- Market cap
- $5.99B-32.9% 30d
- Employees
- 1,000as of 2026
- Last round
- SPAC · $545M2021-12
- Investors
- 2
Quick Facts
About Planet Labs
Planet Labs PBC is a leading Earth observation company operating the largest fleet of Earth-imaging satellites ever deployed. Founded in 2010 by former NASA scientists, Planet provides geospatial data that enables governments, businesses, and NGOs to make more informed decisions about our changing planet. Headquartered in San Francisco, the company images the entire Earth land mass daily.
Planet trades on NYSE under PL following its 2021 SPAC merger. The company employs approximately 800 people and operates facilities in California, Colorado, and internationally. Under CEO Will Marshall (co-founder), Planet has grown from a three-person startup to a publicly traded company generating over $200 million in annual revenue.
History and Milestones
Will Marshall, Robbie Schingler, and Chris Boshuizen founded Planet Labs in 2010 while working at NASA Ames Research Center. The founders believed miniaturized satellites could democratize access to Earth observation data. The company pioneered the use of CubeSats for commercial Earth imaging.
Planet launched its first commercial satellites in 2013 and rapidly expanded its constellation. Through organic growth and acquisitions—including BlackBridge (RapidEye satellites), Terra Bella (Google's satellite imaging unit), and Boundless—Planet built comprehensive Earth observation capabilities.
By 2017, Planet achieved its goal of imaging the entire Earth every day. This "Planet Basemap" provides consistent, current imagery for change detection and monitoring applications across industries.
Products and Services
Planet operates three satellite constellations: Dove (over 200 CubeSats providing daily global coverage), SkySat (high-resolution tasking satellites), and Pelican (next-generation high-resolution satellites). Together, these constellations provide imagery from 3-meter daily to 50-centimeter tasking resolution.
Planet Archive offers access to historical imagery dating back over a decade, enabling change analysis over time. Planet Monitoring provides automated analytics and change detection for specific areas of interest.
The company serves customers across agriculture (crop monitoring), government (defense and intelligence), forestry (deforestation tracking), energy (infrastructure monitoring), and finance (economic activity analysis). Planet's APIs enable integration into customer workflows and applications.
Technology and Capabilities
Planet pioneered the use of CubeSats for commercial imaging, developing standardized small satellites that can be rapidly manufactured and frequently replaced. This approach enables continuous constellation refresh with improved technology while maintaining persistent coverage.
The company operates one of the world's largest collections of Earth observation data, processing petabytes of imagery daily. Planet's platform includes machine learning tools for automated analysis, change detection, and feature extraction.
Planet's data infrastructure delivers imagery and analytics through APIs, integrating with customer systems and third-party platforms. The company partners with cloud providers for global data distribution and processing capabilities.
Business and Financial Overview
Planet went public through a SPAC merger in December 2021, raising approximately $500 million. The company generates revenue from data subscriptions, with annual recurring revenue exceeding $200 million. Government and defense customers represent a significant portion of revenue.
Major contracts include the National Reconnaissance Office's commercial imagery agreements, defense and intelligence customer subscriptions, and commercial enterprise agreements. Planet also serves the European Space Agency and international government customers.
The company has invested heavily in next-generation satellite development and data platform capabilities. Path to profitability depends on growing subscription revenue while managing satellite constellation costs and technology investments.
Recent Developments
In 2024, Planet continued expanding its satellite constellation and customer base while advancing next-generation satellite development. The company launched additional Pelican high-resolution satellites, enhancing tasking capabilities.
Planet deepened government relationships, securing contract extensions and new customer wins. The company also expanded commercial applications and analytics capabilities, supporting customers across multiple industries.
Development continued on Pelican, Planet's next-generation satellite platform offering sub-meter resolution. The company also invested in data processing and analytics tools to extract more value from its imagery archive.
Market Position
Planet is the largest commercial operator of Earth observation satellites by number of spacecraft. The company competes with Maxar Technologies, BlackSky, and emerging satellite imaging companies for government and commercial customers.
Planet's competitive advantages include the world's only daily global imaging capability, extensive historical archive, and flexible resolution options from constellation to tasking. The company's CubeSat approach enables rapid technology refresh.
Strategic priorities include growing government and commercial revenue, expanding analytics capabilities, and deploying next-generation Pelican satellites. Planet aims to make global change visible, accessible, and actionable.
Products and product lines
| Product | Line | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Pelican | High-resolution Earth observation satellite | Sub-metre tasking constellation; expanding via a $230 million SKY Perfect JSAT order for 10 satellites (announced 29 Jan 2025) and a €240 million German government capacity agreement (1 Jul 2025). |
| Dove (PlanetScope) | CubeSat constellation | Fleet of small CubeSats providing 3-5 metre daily imagery of the Earth's landmass, forming Planet's global basemap. |
| SkySat | High-resolution tasking satellite | Sub-metre resolution tasking and video satellites acquired with Google's Terra Bella unit in 2017. |
| Tanager | Hyperspectral satellite | Tanager-1, Planet's first hyperspectral satellite, launched 16 August 2024 with a NASA JPL-built imaging spectrometer developed for the Carbon Mapper Coalition to detect methane and CO2 emissions. |
| Dedicated government capacity & analytics | Government data services | Sold directly to governments (e.g. Germany's 2025 contract) as dedicated satellite capacity, direct downlink, and AI-enabled situational-awareness analytics layered on PlanetScope/SkySat/Pelican imagery. |
Timeline
- 2024 Tanager-1, Planet's first hyperspectral satellite, launches 16 August aboard SpaceX's Transporter-11 rideshare alongside 36 SuperDoves; built with NASA JPL for the Carbon Mapper Coalition to track methane and CO2 emissions. [source]
- 2025 Planet announces (29 January) a $230 million multi-year agreement — its largest contract to date — to build 10 Pelican satellites for an initially undisclosed Asia-Pacific partner. [source]
- 2025 SKY Perfect JSAT reveals itself on 5 February as the customer behind the $230 million Pelican order, forming JSAT Beyond Innovation LLC to own and operate the resulting constellation. [source]
- 2025 Planet reports fiscal year 2025 results on 20 March: record $244.4 million revenue (+11% year over year) and its first quarter of Adjusted EBITDA profitability. [source]
- 2025 Planet secures a multi-year, €240 million contract with the German government (announced 1 July) for dedicated Pelican satellite capacity, PlanetScope/SkySat data access, and AI-enabled situational-awareness analytics over Europe. [source]
- 2025 Planet announces (25 September) a new Berlin manufacturing facility that will double production capacity for the Pelican constellation, citing the German government contract as a catalyst for European expansion. [source]
- 2026 Planet reports fiscal year 2026 results on 19 March: record revenue of $307.7 million (+26%), its first full year of non-GAAP profitability (Adjusted EBITDA of $15.5 million), and backlog up 79% year over year to $900 million. [source]
Will Marshall (CEO, Co-founder)
Funding history
5 events · $540M raised| Date | Round | Amount | Investors | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-12-08 | SPAC | $545M | dMY TechnologyGoogle VenturesSPAC merger with dMY Technology Group IV | planet.com |
| 2015-04-02 | Undisclosed round | $92.8M | —Form D amendment filed 2015-04-20 by Planet Labs Inc.: $92.8M sold of a $100.0M offering (first sale 2015-04-02). | sec.gov |
| 2015-01-13 | Undisclosed round | $48.1M | —Form D filed 2015-01-28 by Planet Labs Inc.: $48.1M sold of a $70.0M offering (first sale 2015-01-13). | sec.gov |
| 2013-12-17 | Undisclosed round | $51.9M | —Form D filed 2014-01-02 by Planet Labs Inc.: $51.9M sold of a $60.0M offering (first sale 2013-12-17). | sec.gov |
| 2012-12-21 | Undisclosed round | $13.4M | —Form D filed 2013-07-23 by Planet Labs Inc.: $13.4M sold of a $13.4M offering (first sale 2012-12-21). | sec.gov |
Investors
From the sourced rounds above. Investors with two or more deals in the directory link to a portfolio page.
Team
Will Marshall (CEO, Co-founder)
Signals
- Market cap, 90 days
- -47.2%
- Verification
- Verified 2026-09-09
Categories & Capabilities
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Stock Performance
PL · Daily close data
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Frequently asked about Planet Labs
Quick answers to the questions readers most often search for.
- When was Planet Labs founded?
- Planet Labs was founded in 2010 in United States.
- Where is Planet Labs headquartered?
- Planet Labs is headquartered in San Francisco, United States.
- What does Planet Labs do?
- Planet Labs PBC is a leading Earth observation company operating the largest fleet of Earth-imaging satellites ever deployed. Founded in 2010 by former NASA scientists, Planet provides geospatial data that enables governments, businesses, and NGOs to make more informed decisions about our changing planet. Headquartered…
- Is Planet Labs publicly traded?
- Yes. Planet Labs trades under the ticker PL on NYSE.
- What sector does Planet Labs operate in?
- Planet Labs works in earth observation, Satellite manufacturing and Analytics.
Sources
The structured fields on this page (founding year, location, sector, status, listing) and the profile text are drawn from the sources below. How profiles are drafted and checked is described in our methodology.
- Official website (planet.com)
- Market data via Yahoo Finance (PL) · retrieved 2026-09-14
- Company LinkedIn page
- SEC Form D · retrieved 2026-09-04
- SEC Form D · retrieved 2026-09-04
- SEC Form D · retrieved 2026-09-04
- SEC Form D · retrieved 2026-09-04
- SEC 10-K · retrieved 2026-09-04
- Wikidata / Wikipedia · retrieved 2026-09-04
- Merged duplicate entry planet-labs-pbc · retrieved 2026-09-05
- SEC 8-K exhibit: Planet Labs $230M agreement press release (29 Jan 2025) · retrieved 2026-09-06
- Planet.com Pulse: Planet Launches First Tanager-1 Hyperspectral Satellite and 36 SuperDoves with SpaceX · retrieved 2026-09-06
- SpaceNews: SKY Perfect JSAT is the customer behind Planet's $230 million LEO order (5 Feb 2025) · retrieved 2026-09-06
- TradingView: Planet Labs PBC Reports Financial Results for Q4 and Full Fiscal Year 2025 (20 Mar 2025) · retrieved 2026-09-06
- Investing.com: Planet Labs secures $240 million contract with German government (1 Jul 2025) · retrieved 2026-09-06
- European Spaceflight: Planet to Open Berlin Manufacturing Site Following €240M Contract (25 Sep 2025) · retrieved 2026-09-06
- Investing.com: Planet Labs Q4 2026 slides — first profitable year, backlog surges 79% (19 Mar 2026) · retrieved 2026-09-06
- Funding: SPAC merger with dMY Technology Group IV (2021-12-08) · retrieved 2026-09-04
Data Accuracy Notice: Information about Planet Labs is compiled from publicly available sources including company websites, press releases, regulatory filings, and industry reports. Data is reviewed periodically but may not reflect the most recent developments.