Planet Labs, a US-based space and analytics company which operates Earth imaging satellites, has raised $52m in series B financing from investors including existing investors O’Reilly Alpha Tech Ventures (OATV), the corporate venturing arm of US-based media company O’Reilly Media, DFJ, Capricorn, Founders Fund, First Round Capital, Innovation Endeavors, Data Collective, and AME Cloud Ventures; new investors joining this round included technology investor Yuri Milner, Industry Ventures, Felicis Ventures, Lux Capital, and Ray Rothrock.
Robbie Schingler, Planet Labs co-founder, said: “This funding comes off the back of a great year. With this financing, we are well positioned for 2014 to launch Flock 1 and enter commercial service.”
Yuri Milner said: “Planet Labs is revolutionizing the spacecraft sector. Its passionate and high performance team is utilizing elegant science and sophisticated technology in pushing the boundaries of what was thought to be possible in satellite manufacturing and deployment.”
Planet Labs has already launched four satellites on three rockets so far in 2013, and has delivered its “Flock 1″ fleet of 28 satellites to NASA Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia for launch on board an Antares rocket in December – which will be the largest constellation of Earth imaging satellites ever launched.