BlackSky is going public through a merger with Osprey Technology

Satellite imagery specialist BlackSky and Osprey Technology Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), announced they have entered into an agreement for a business combination that would result in BlackSky becoming a publicly listed company on the NYSE with the ticker symbol ‘BKSY’.

BlackSky is a pioneer in real-time Earth observation leveraging the innovative performance and economics of small satellite constellations to deliver high revisit global monitoring solutions. BlackSky’s Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI) powered analytics platform derives unique insights from its constellation as well as a variety of space, and terrestrial-based sensors and data feed.

Osprey is led by investors Edward Cohen and Jonathan Cohen alongside JANA Partners’ David DiDomenico.

The merger’s value will reach $1.5 billion. The company’s plans to use the funds to enhance it’s network to 30 imaging satellites, and to capture imagery of anywhere on earth almost every 30 minutes. Now BlackSky has five satellites in operation and will add about nine more satellites in orbit around earth in 2021.