BlackSky Holdings, Inc. (“BlackSky” and Osprey Technology Acquisition Corp. (“Osprey”) (NYSE: SFTW), a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), have entered into a definitive agreement for a business combination that would result in BlackSky becoming a publicly listed company. It is anticipated that the post-closing company, BlackSky will be listed on the NYSE with the ticker symbol “BKSY”.
Founded in 2014, BlackSky is a first mover in real-time Earth Observation (EO) leveraging the innovative performance and economics of smallsat constellations to deliver high revisit global monitoring solutions. BlackSky’s Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning powered analytics platform derives unique insights from its constellation as well as a variety of space, IoT, and terrestrial based sensors and data feeds. BlackSky monitors global events and activities providing enhanced situational awareness for commercial and government customers worldwide.
BlackSky has developed a fully integrated proprietary technology stack that includes a constellation of high-resolution small satellites that monitor global events and activities at high revisit rates, an AI and machine learning enabled software platform that tasks the constellation and translates data into actionable insights, a proprietary database that continually captures information on global changes, and an application layer that delivers on-demand solutions directly to the customer.
BlackSky has also established a vertically integrated small satellite design and production capability through its LeoStella joint venture with Thales Alenia Space. BlackSky has five satellites in commercial operation and is scheduled to add an additional nine satellites to its constellation in 2021. Ultimately, BlackSky seeks to establish a constellation of 30 high resolution multi-spectral satellites capable of monitoring locations on Earth every 30 minutes, day or night.
BlackSky has established contracts with multiple government agencies in the United States and around the world. BlackSky’s pipeline of opportunities grew by $1.1 billion in the last 12 months and stands at $1.7 billion today.
Brian O’Toole“This transaction fully funds our growth plans and accelerates our vision of providing our customers with a “first-to-know” advantage. This is an important inflection point for our industry as commercial and government users demand access to real time information about the changes that matter most to them,” said Brian O’Toole, CEO of BlackSky. “With our high revisit rate constellation and our sophisticated analytics platform, BlackSky can address the market’s significant demand for real-time geospatial intelligence. We’re excited to partner with Osprey to accelerate our mission to support our customers’ critical needs.”
“We are delighted to partner with BlackSky, a first mover in a large and exciting new market,” said David DiDomenico, a Partner of JANA Partners LLC who also serves as CEO of Osprey. “The new space economy is taking off, and we believe that BlackSky’s low-cost image capture and on-demand delivery of analytics will revolutionize the way companies and governments detect and track change. BlackSky’s continuously growing, proprietary database is a valuable competitive advantage, and we believe its vertically integrated operations serve as a major point of distinction among other space analytics companies. This transaction will bring to fruition the vision of Brian and the BlackSky team.”
Transaction Overview
Pursuant to the transaction, Osprey, which currently holds approximately $318 million in trust, will combine with BlackSky at an estimated pro forma enterprise value of $1.1 billion. Assuming no redemptions by Osprey’s existing public shareholders, BlackSky’s existing shareholders will hold approximately 62.6% of the fully diluted shares of common stock immediately following the closing of the business combination.
The combined company expects to receive approximately $450 million in net proceeds, assuming no redemptions by Osprey’s existing public shareholders. These cash proceeds are expected to be used to extend BlackSky’s AI/ML analytics platform, expand BlackSky’s small satellite constellation, add additional sensors and data feeds to the BlackSky network and accelerate the Company’s penetration of the commercial market.
The transaction has been unanimously approved by the Board of Directors of both Osprey and BlackSky, and is subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including the approval of Osprey’s shareholders. The transaction is expected to close in July 2021.
Additional information about the proposed business combination, including a copy of the merger agreement and investor presentation, will be provided in a Current Report on Form 8-K to be filed by Osprey today with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and available at www.sec.gov. The investor presentation can also be found on BlackSky’s website at https://www.blacksky.com/ and Osprey’s website at https://www.osprey-technology.com/. In addition, Osprey intends to file a registration statement on Form S-4 with the SEC, which will include a proxy statement/prospectus, and will file other documents regarding the proposed transaction with the SEC.
BlackSky is a provider of real-time geospatial intelligence. BlackSky monitors activities and facilities worldwide by harnessing the world’s emerging sensor networks and leveraging its own satellite constellation. BlackSky processes millions of observations from space, air, environmental sensors, asset tracking sensors, Industrial IoT, and Internet-enabled narrative sources. BlackSky’s on-demand constellation of satellites can image a location multiple times throughout the day. BlackSky monitors for pattern-of-life anomalies to produce alerts and enhance situational awareness. BlackSky’s monitoring service is powered by cutting-edge compute techniques including machine learning, artificial intelligence, computer vision, and natural language processing. BlackSky’s global monitoring is available via a simple subscription and requires no IT infrastructure or setup.
Osprey is a special purpose acquisition corp., or SPAC, that was established as a collaboration between investment firms HEPCO Capital Management, led by Jonathan and Edward Cohen, and JANA Partners, led by Barry Rosenstein and with its SPAC initiative led by JANA Partner David DiDomenico, who serves as Osprey’s CEO, President, and Director. Osprey was formed to consummate a transaction with one or more transformative companies that have developed innovative software delivery platforms.