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Planet Labs Raises $118M Series C to Cover the Earth in Tiny Satellites
- flavio87 11y agocongrats to Will, Robbie, Chris and the entire team. to the moon and more :)
- fixxer 11y agoReminds me of this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_debris http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_debris
- grinich 11y agoWe always ensure that our satellites are well below the UN 25 year guideline, and we will never launch a satellite into an orbit with a predicted lifetime greater than 25 years. https://www.planet.com/pulse/keeping-space-clean-responsible-satellite-fleet-operations/ https://www.planet.com/pulse/keeping-space-clean-responsible...
- fixxer 11y agoThanks for the link! I was looking for some papers on the topic (small satellites & space debris). Here are a few that popped up (not sure if CubeSats are 100% apples for apples): http://archive.ists.or.jp/upload_pdf/2011-r-36.pdf http://archive.ists.or.jp/upload_pdf/2011-r-36.pdf http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Engineering_Technology/Clean_Space/Space_debris_mitigation http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Engineering_Technolo... http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140930090447.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140930090447.ht... Small satellites raise some great systems questions... certainly outside my expertise, but interesting.
- qiqing 11y agoA couple more papers on the topic: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0273117711005783 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0273117711... http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0273117710006964 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0273117710... Note the authors include the founder(s) from back when they were at NASA.
- classicsnoot 11y agoQuestion for you sir[?]: is it possible to build a massive radio antenna array outside of the atmosphere using a widely spread out constellation of satellites? Like, something of a dimension and intensity that would be impossible/unsafe to do on the earth's surface? My apologies if this is a dumb question...
- vonklaus 11y agoI am not GP, but if you are interested in satellite communication networks, spaceX and google have partnered to do something similar. It will have some extra-terrestrial advantages like needing less hops to get to destination and light moves faster in a vacuum. link: http://spacenews.com/spacex-google-matchup-sets-up-satellite-internet-scramble/ http://spacenews.com/spacex-google-matchup-sets-up-satellite...
- classicsnoot 11y agoThis may sound crazy, but i was talking about a transmitter and i was thinking about it being pointed outward, not inward. I am of the opinion that crafted radio signals are the easiest and most efficient way to tell 'whoever' that someone is here and they know math. The constellation would serve two purposes: let asteroid miners listen to NPR outside of the control of NASA or Weyland-Yutani and broadcast a signal to the universe that we are here. I will not be offended by the wave of chortles. Also, i imagine a radio telescope that stretches 300,000 miles might be able to pick up a lot we cannot see.
- mirimir 11y agoThey already know that we're here. That may not be good.
- classicsnoot 11y agoI have heard this notion and, respectfully, i think it is bonkers. If a super advanced civilization wants to pulp us, i doubt they will need any help in finding us [as they are already watching the '38 Olympics and I Love Lucy. If, alternatively, they are some nomadic space dickheads looking to pick a fight, than i can think of no better way to prove that we are ready to be an interstellar species. Finally, if they are some insectoid space roaches that can hurl meteors across space at our little marble... good. I want to be a Starship Trooper. In any of these situations, humanity will become unified and space marines become a reality. Yayzors. I know this is a lot of silly conjecture, but the thought of multidimensional super beings having it in for us is as far-fetched as an invisible Jew in the sky who writes down everything you do and hates gay folks.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- history3 11y agoCame here to post this.
- grandalf 11y agoI met Chris one time and he's super smart. Great job guys! Some stunningly creative technology too.
- gtirloni 11y agoCould someone more knowledgeable about this field explain what advantages this would have over the incumbents?
- sparkman55 11y agoFor a long time, public satellite imagery came from satellites flown by the US Geological Survey (USGS). They came in two flavors: geostationary and low-earth orbit. The geostationary satellites are perched very high above the earth, and take frequent pictures of the 'full disk' of earth. This is invaluable for weather forecasting, as we can see what clouds are doing in real time. However, they are so far away that you need big, expensive satellites and big, expensive launches, and the resulting resolution is quite poor (like one pixel per 5km depending on latitude, and worse at high latitudes). On the other hand, the low-earth orbit satellites fly just above the atmosphere, and can take pictures at much higher (spatial) resolution, but may only fly over a particular spot of land once per day. So you trade temporal resolution for spatial resolution. With miniaturization, advances in imaging and related technology, and decreasing launch costs, it should be possible to deploy a constellation of small low-earth-orbit satellites, to provide good temporal AND spatial resolution. That enables a whole bunch of new applications. However, I'd be a bit concerned that long-lived airborne drones flying at high altitudes might do the same thing (good spatial AND temporal resolution), but at a lower price point and in a more efficient way (since you only fly where you want to look, instead of covering the entire globe). Perhaps I'm missing something?
- Thrymr 11y ago> but may only fly over a particular spot of land once per day. Even less frequent: Landsat 8 repeats every 16 days: http://www.usgs.gov/blogs/features/usgs_top_story/landsat-8-set-to-extend-long-run-of-observing-earth http://www.usgs.gov/blogs/features/usgs_top_story/landsat-8-...
- unchocked 11y agoIf you assume UAVs will improve while space launch costs stay flat, you probably have a point. If space launch keeps getting cheaper (thanks Elon!) then the persistence of satellites will give UAV swarms a run for their money.
- ay1n 11y agoI'm curious how much equity founders have after such investment with so many investors? I know there's no standard rule here, but I don't know anything about investors, raising money etc., could someone give me few examples with real life numbers?
- grinich 11y agoPlanet Labs has raised a total of $160.1 million in funding across 4 disclosed rounds.[1] I'm going to assume there was also an angel round. Here is some (super) rough math: | Round | $ in MM | post-$ | non-VC % | |-----------|----------|----------|----------| | Founding | - | - | 100 | | Angel | 1 | 10 | 90 | | Series A | 13.1 | 50 | 75 | | Series B | 52 | 225 | 58 | | Series C | 118 | 550 | 45 | Note this announcement is the "second closing" of the 95MM Series C from January[2], which means the terms are very likely identical. The WSJ reported the Series C valuation as "materially above" 500 million.[3] I picked these valuations out of thin air. The only "standard" thing I've seen is that most VC funds are structured for 20% minimum stake in Series A rounds. Later-stage rounds often target less ownership. The above calculation doesn't take into account any stock for employees. With that, I'd estimate the founders still collectively own about 30-35% of the company. This could also be totally wrong, since I have no idea what the real numbers are. But as an exercise, you get the idea. :) [1] https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/planet-labs https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/planet-labs [2] http://techcrunch.com/2015/01/20/planet-labs-95m/ http://techcrunch.com/2015/01/20/planet-labs-95m/ [3] http://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2015/01/23/data-collective-tapped-its-new-growth-fund-for-planet-labs-deal/ http://blogs.wsj.com/venturecapital/2015/01/23/data-collecti...
- nedwin 11y agoIf we forget about the percentages they own and focus on the value of their stock we see that their stock goes likes this: $0 $9m $37.5m $130.5m $247.5m I suspect that the founder ownership percentages are actually lower than you've suggested and that right now they own somewhere around 20 to 30% which is still valued at $110m to $165m.
- vollmarj 11y agoCongrats Planet! Now please add more spectral bands to your satellites so they can be useful for agriculture.
- vonklaus 11y agoEver since Steve Jurvetson mentioned these guys, I have been super excited to see what is going to happen in full earth imagery. A lot of talk has centered around traffic recognition (either predictive patterns for motorways, or store commerce based on volume flux), crops and agriculture, climate recog (polar caps, rainforests) etc. It is going to be exciting to see what developers do when the API is rolled out in a much sharper cadence.
- netcan 11y agoWhat can you say other than... cool.
- hga 11y agoI can say "creepy" ... e.g. sooner or later, anytime I walk outside, there's going to be one or more microsats "watching" me. Yeah, I know it's "nothing personal" ... today. Makes me wonder about adding "Procure a personal ASAT system" to my dream list for the future.
- netcan 11y agoThat sort of creepiness, privacy concerns or whatnot are valid, but I think they almost need to be isolated out of such conversations. The world is changing fast with all sorts of relevance in that realm. I think it's almost futile for us to try and comprehend how this stuff will work and how we feel about it. History is often notionally zeroed at the invention of written records. The king of an illiterate realm is prehistoric while Nebuchadnezzar or Hammurabi are historic rulers, leaving behind an intentional record from their times. There are people today with thousands of hours of HD video and audio records. Facebook photos. HN debates. You can know who they are and how they think, to an extent, from those records. Their great grandchildren will be able to too. This is getting stronger. The quantity and quality of information being recorded is enormous. You might call it post-history. The period abbot which our level of knowledge is as complete as it is about the present. I think it's the kind of great change that can't be understood from foresight.
- branchan 11y agoDo you know how many security cameras are already watching you every day???
- jf 11y agoNaturally, Planet is hiring: https://www.planet.com/careers/#openings https://www.planet.com/careers/#openings
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- hellbanner 11y agoIncluding war zones?
- branchan 11y agoYes: http://www.skybox.com/blog/attack-on-tripoli-international-airport http://www.skybox.com/blog/attack-on-tripoli-international-a...
- hellbanner 11y agoInteresting. A while back on HN there was discussion of some actor (Tom Cruise??) using satellites to free child soldiers or something.. and conspiciously absent of pointing out the wars in the middle east
- mrfusion 11y agoWhy can't we put cameras on the proposed Leo Internet satellites? Wouldn't that give us a huge leap in coverage?
- kartikkumar 11y agoPlanet Labs is doing a great job of raising the profile of NewSpace [1]. I met Will Marshall when I was interning at NASA Ames in 2007. He was setting up their Mission Design Center. I remember they were working on PhoneSat at the time [2]. There was generally a mood of change at Ames, backed by a great administrator, Pete Worden. I was at the 1st Startup Weekend dedicated to Space this weekend in Bremen, Germany [3]. It was a fascinating weekend and a great opportunity to explore many NewSpace ideas. Chris Boshuizen gave a remote talk on the Friday. They’re differentiating themselves from the competition through their high repeat rate and I think they have a lot of interesting avenues for growth ahead. It’s good to see institutional investors getting involved in NewSpace. Nikunj is a family friend; I’m looking forward to picking his brain about this deal and his view of the market. Space Angels Network [4] is also doing a great job of raising the profile of this new industry. Hopefully, we see a lot more investment in basic products and services that will open up a tremendous number of space-based applications in the coming decade. Congrats to the Planet Labs guys! [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NewSpace http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NewSpace [2] http://www.phonesat.org/ http://www.phonesat.org/ [3] http://www.up.co/communities/germany/bremen/startup-weekend/5485 http://www.up.co/communities/germany/bremen/startup-weekend/... [4] http://spaceangelsnetwork.com/ http://spaceangelsnetwork.com/
- binoyxj 11y agoLatest feature on Planet Labs http://news.sciencemag.org/space/2015/04/feature-how-tiny-satellites-spawned-silicon-valley-will-monitor-changing-earth http://news.sciencemag.org/space/2015/04/feature-how-tiny-sa...