Planet Labs photographs the entire Earth every single day using a constellation of 200+ tiny satellites — and sells those images to governments, farmers, insurers, and anyone else who needs to see what is happening on the planet in near-real-time. Three ex-NASA scientists built the world's largest fleet of Earth-observation satellites by making them small, cheap, and disposable. Google Earth, but updated daily and actually useful.
Founded
2010
HQ
San Francisco, California
Total Raised
$600 Million+
Founder
Will Marshall, Robbie Schingler, and Chris Boshuizen
Status
Public (NYSE: PL)
Website
www.planet.comTHE ORIGIN STORY
Will Marshall, Robbie Schingler, and Chris Boshuizen were all NASA scientists who had become frustrated with the slow, expensive traditional approach to satellite missions. They realized that smartphone components (cameras, processors, radios) had become so cheap and powerful that you could build a useful Earth-observation satellite for a fraction of the cost.
They founded Planet Labs in a garage in 2010 and started launching "CubeSats" — satellites the size of a loaf of bread. Their first satellites went up in 2014.
WHAT THEY ACTUALLY DO
Planet Labs operates a constellation of 200+ small satellites (called Doves) that photograph the entire Earth's landmass every day at 3-5 meter resolution. Revenue comes from selling satellite imagery and geospatial data through subscriptions to governments (defense, intelligence, agriculture departments), enterprises (agriculture, insurance, forestry, mining, finance), and NGOs.
They also offer analytics products that turn raw imagery into actionable insights.
THE PRODUCTS
PlanetScope (daily global imagery, 200+ satellites), SkySat (high-resolution on-demand imagery), Planet Analytics (AI-powered insights), Planet Basemaps (cloud-free mosaics)
HOW THEY GREW
Grow government contracts (defense and intelligence agencies are the highest-value customers). Expand analytics products — selling insights, not just images, commands higher prices.
Develop industry-specific solutions (crop monitoring for agriculture, supply chain monitoring for finance, deforestation tracking for ESG). Launch next-generation satellites with higher resolution.
THE HARD PART
Revenue growth. Planet has achieved daily global coverage, which is technically remarkable, but growing revenue to justify the ongoing cost of satellite replacement and operations has been slow.
Government contracts are lumpy and enterprise adoption of satellite data is still early. The company has been unprofitable since inception and needs to prove that daily Earth imagery is a necessity, not a novelty.
MONEY TRAIL
Series A
2013 · Led by
$13M raised
Series C
2015 · Led by
$95M raised
SPAC IPO
2021 · Led by
$500M raised
WHO BACKED THEM
Google, Breakthrough Energy Ventures (Bill Gates), Union Square Ventures, Founders Fund, DFJ, public market investors
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