Planet to Acquire Sinergise Business to Expand its Data Analysis Platform

Rhea-AI Summary

Planet Labs PBC (NYSE: PL) has announced its acquisition of Sinergise, a leading developer of Earth Observation (EO) data platforms, aimed at simplifying insights extraction and reducing EO data storage costs. This strategic acquisition, expected to close in Q2 of the fiscal year, enhances Planet's Earth Data Platform by integrating Sinergise's technology, including the Sentinel Hub. The move is projected to expand Planet's market reach across sectors such as agriculture and finance, while reinforcing its commitment to developing the downstream market in Europe. Planet has previously acquired five companies, marking this as its sixth acquisition.

Positive

• Expands access to Earth Observation data for customers.
• Strengthens capabilities in various vertical markets including agriculture and finance.
• Integration with Sentinel Hub accelerates Earth Data Platform development.

Negative

• None.

Acquisition will allow customers to more easily extract insights from Earth Observation data

SAN FRANCISCO & LJUBLJANA, Slovenia--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Planet Labs PBC (NYSE: PL), a leading provider of daily data and insights about Earth, today announced it has signed an agreement to acquire the business of Holding Sinergise d.o.o. (“Sinergise”), a leading developer platform for earth observation (EO) data. By reducing the complexity of analysis and insights extraction, as well as the cost of EO data storage, Planet aims to continue expanding into new vertical markets with products and applications where EO data is highly relevant such as agriculture, civil government, insurance, financial markets, and sustainable supply chain management.

Sinergise’s technology powers the European Union-backed Sentinel Hub, an advanced API-driven, cloud streaming platform that allows customers to access multi-source EO data for processing, analysis, and insight extraction. Planet and Sinergise have been partners since 2016 and this acquisition reinforces that making EO data more accessible and actionable to decision makers is critical to businesses and governments.

“The technology at Sinergise is first class,” said Will Marshall, CEO and co-founder of Planet. “Our integration with Sentinel Hub will meaningfully accelerate our Earth Data Platform plans, in particular by lowering barriers to access for EO data expanding the market, and by allowing partners to quickly and easily build applications, lowers the time to value creation. Furthermore, this acquisition underscores our strong commitment to investing in Europe, and building and enabling the downstream market ecosystem there.”

Planet expects this acquisition to lower the barriers for current and new Planet customers to access and act on EO data. The addition of Sinergise’s platform capabilities is expected to further enable customers to more easily extract insights from various sources of satellite data and partners to build their own applications on top of Planet’s platform to gain additional value from EO data.

“We are thrilled to integrate our technologies to together build a powerful Earth Data Platform to unlock the full potential for EO data,” says Grega Milcinski, co-founder of Sinergise. “Partnering with Planet over the years has inspired us to accelerate the adoption of EO driven applications at scale.”

Sinergise’s Sentinel Hub enables businesses, governments, and farmers to transform their management practices and report their sustainable impact. These data sources and distribution services allow governments and agricultural companies to visualize and analyze a variety of data products at an unprecedented speed. The European Space Agency (ESA) recognizes the importance of innovative technologies and awareness of EO-based services, and has facilitated easy access to Planet data in Sentinel Hub.

The transaction is expected to close during Q2 of Planet’s current fiscal year and is subject to certain closing conditions. This will be Planet’s sixth acquisition (BlackBridge group of companies in 2015, Terra Bella business from Google in 2017, Boundless Spatial, Inc. in 2019, VanderSat B.V. in 2021, and Salo Sciences, Inc. in 2023).

About Planet Labs PBC

Planet is a leading provider of global, daily satellite imagery and geospatial solutions. Planet is driven by a mission to image the world every day, and make change visible, accessible and actionable. Founded in 2010 by three NASA scientists, Planet designs, builds, and operates the largest Earth observation fleet of imaging satellites. Planet provides mission-critical data, advanced insights, and software solutions to over 880 customers, comprising the world’s leading agriculture, forestry, intelligence, education and finance companies and government agencies, enabling users to simply and effectively derive unique value from satellite imagery. Planet is a public benefit corporation listed on the New York Stock Exchange as PL. To learn more visit www.planet.com and follow us on Twitter.

About Sinergise

Sinergise is a European geospatial technology company best known for their Sentinel Hub, an award-winning satellite imagery archiving, processing and distribution service, which powers Earth Observation applications world-wide, processes hundreds of millions of requests every month, crunching more than 50 PB of data coming from Sentinel, Landsat, Planet and other missions. Sinergise is developing and operating machine-learning based solutions for monitoring of the planet, from agriculture activities to identification of newly built constructions. Their applications and services are used by hundreds of thousands of people around the world.

Forward-looking Statements

Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters set forth in this press release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but not limited to, implied and express statements regarding: the Company’s ability to capture market opportunity; whether and when the Company will be able to execute on its growth initiatives; whether the Company will be able to successfully close the agreement to acquire the business of Holding Sinergise d.o.o. in a timely manner, or at all; the successful integration of and ability to achieve potential benefits from strategic acquisitions; how the Company will execute on its partnerships and contracts and how the Company’s partners and customers will utilize the Company’s data and technology; and the Company’s financial outlook. Words such as “expect,” “estimate,” “project,” “budget,” “forecast,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “plan,” “seek,” “may,” “will,” “could,” “can,” “should,” “would,” “believes,” “predicts,” “potential,” “strategy,” “opportunity,” “aim,” “continue” and similar expressions or the negative thereof, or discussions of strategy, plans, objectives, intentions, estimates, forecasts, outlook, assumptions, or goals, are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the Company’s management’s beliefs, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to them. Because such statements are based on expectations as to future financial and operating results and are not statements of fact, actual results may differ materially from those projected. Factors which may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations include, but are not limited to: whether the market for the Company’s products and services that is built upon its data set, which has not existed before, will grow as expected; the Company’s ability to manage its growth effectively; whether current customers or prospective customers adopt the Company’s platform; the Company’s international operations creating business and economic risks that could impact its operations and financial results; downturns or volatility in general economic conditions; and the other factors described under the heading “Risk Factors” in the Annual Report on Form 10-K filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and any subsequent filings with the SEC the Company may make. Copies of each filing may be obtained from the Company or the SEC. All forward-looking statements reflect the Company’s beliefs and assumptions only as of the date of this press release. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230329005285/en/

Planet Press

Claire Bentley Dale

Planet Labs PBC

comms@planet.com

Planet Investor Relations

Chris Genualdi, Cleo Palmer-Poroner

Planet Labs PBC

ir@planet.com

Source: Planet

FAQ

What is the purpose of Planet Labs' acquisition of Sinergise?

The acquisition aims to simplify insights extraction from Earth Observation data and reduce storage costs, enhancing Planet's Earth Data Platform.

When is the acquisition of Sinergise expected to close?

The acquisition is expected to close during Q2 of Planet's current fiscal year.

How will the acquisition impact Planet's customers?

The acquisition will lower barriers for current and new customers to access Earth Observation data more easily.

What technology does Sinergise bring to Planet Labs?

Sinergise's technology includes the Sentinel Hub, which allows multi-source EO data access for processing and analysis.

What markets does Planet Labs aim to expand into with this acquisition?

Planet aims to expand into sectors such as agriculture, civil government, insurance, financial markets, and sustainable supply chain management.