Spire Global, a US-based space-focused data provider backed by corporates Qualcomm, Qihoo 360, Mitsui and Itochu, agreed a reverse merger deal on Monday with special purpose acquisition company NavSight Holdings
The combined company will be valued at $1.6bn once the transaction closes, and it will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange, where NavSight floated in a $200m initial public offering in September 2020. Spire’s investors will own 67% of the merged business.
Hedge fund manager Tiger Global Management is anchoring a $245m private investment in public equity financing round to support the deal, joining Hedosophia, Jaws Estates Capital, Bloom Tree Partners and funds and accounts managed by BlackRock.
Founded in 2012 as Nanosatisfi, Spire has launched a constellation of low-earth satellites that enable it to provide geographical and earth data to its customers. It had reportedly secured a total of $190m in funding as of a $40m series D round in September 2019.
Investment partnership GPO Fund led the series D round, which included Qualcomm Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of mobile semiconductor producer Qualcomm, in addition to diversified conglomerates Mitsui and Itochu.
The round was filled out by Scottish Investment Bank, Perennial Value Management, Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP), RRE Capital, Expon Capital, Seraphim Capital and undisclosed other investors.
Spire raised a reported $70m in series C funding from investors including Luxembourg Future Fund in 2017, following $40m from Promus Ventures Jump Capital, RRE Ventures and Lemnos Labs in a 2015 series B round that doubled its overall funding.
RRE Ventures led Spire’s $25m series A round in 2014, investing with Mitsui subsidiary Mitsui Global Investment, cybersecurity software producer Qihoo 360 and Moose Capital. Its earlier investors include Grishin Robotics, Beamonte Investments, Emerge, Lemnos Labs and Shasta Ventures.
