Planet Labs PBC

What does it do?

Planet Labs operates the world's largest commercial satellite constellation — essentially a fleet of over 200 small satellites, each roughly the size of a shoebox, that orbit Earth and photograph the entire planet every single day. Think of it like Google Street View, but from space, updated daily instead of every few years. A farmer in Brazil can use Planet's platform to monitor crop health across thousands of acres without leaving home. A government agency can track deforestation, flood damage, or military movements in near real-time.

How does it make money?

Planet makes money by selling subscriptions to its data platform — customers pay recurring fees to access a continuous stream of satellite imagery and analytics tools, similar to how a company pays for a Spotify or Netflix subscription. Government agencies (like the U.S. defense and intelligence community) make up a large portion of revenue, alongside commercial customers in agriculture, finance, and energy. Annual revenue grew from roughly $0.2B to $0.3B last year, showing about 50% growth, though the company is still losing around $0.2B per year as it spends heavily to expand its satellite fleet and platform.

Why do investors care?

The growth story hinges on one core idea: once you've built and launched the satellites, the cost of delivering data to one more customer is nearly zero — that's called operating leverage, meaning profits should scale dramatically as revenue grows. Investors are betting that Planet reaches a tipping point where its massive fixed costs (building satellites, launching them) are covered and every new subscription dollar flows almost entirely to profit. For that to happen, Planet needs to keep landing large government contracts, expand into commercial markets, and prove it can stop burning through cash.