Planet Labs' Strategic Growth in Satellite Services and AI — 2025 Q4 Insights

Strategic Initiatives Announced by Planet Labs Regarding Satellite Services and AI Capabilities

---

1. Expansion and Commercialization of Satellite Services

• Landmark JSAT Partnership:

  • Planet signed a $230 million multi-year commercial agreement with JSAT, a cornerstone partner.
  • Under this deal, Planet will build, launch, and operate a constellation of 10 high-resolution Pelican satellites dedicated to JSAT’s area of interest (primarily Japan).
  • Planet retains commercial rights to sell the remaining capacity of these satellites globally, representing a significant upside opportunity.
  • This partnership is structured as a "win-win-win" for JSAT (priority access to critical intelligence), Planet (scale and monetization of strategic IP assets), and other customers (increased global capacity and potentially revised rates).
  • The satellite services market is valued in the tens of billions globally, and Planet aims to capture a meaningful portion.
  • Planet is actively pursuing similar strategic partnerships with other trusted partners across defense, intelligence, civil government, and commercial markets, leveraging all three satellite fleets (Pelican, Tanager, and Doves).
  • The company has regulatory approval for up to 32 Pelican satellites and sees typical mini-constellation deals around 10 satellites.
  • Launch timeline for JSAT satellites is mainly within the next 24 months, following priority launches for Planet’s own SkySat fleet continuity and enhancements.
  • The JSAT contract is front-end loaded in cash payments, supporting working capital and expected to be accretive to cash flow, including in fiscal 2026.
  • Planet expects to monetize the global capacity outside JSAT’s area commercially, which offers high-margin potential.

• Satellite Fleet Development:

  • In fiscal 2025, Planet launched 74 satellites, including the Second Pelican and First Tanager spacecraft.
  • Pelican 2 satellite is performing well, with multiple Pelican launches scheduled to scale towards a fully operational high-resolution fleet.
  • Tanager 1, launched last summer, is producing hyperspectral data with a five-fold improvement in tasking capacity since launch.
  • Planet is preparing to offer commercial Tanager data broadly, targeting energy and civil government verticals.
  • The company continues to invest in building and launching next-generation fleets (Pelican, Tanager, SuperDoves).

• Market Focus and Growth:

  • Planet is shifting from selling raw data to selling targeted solutions aligned with customer verticals, especially in defense and intelligence, civil government, and commercial sectors.
  • Defense and intelligence sector revenue grew over 20% year-over-year in fiscal 2025.
  • Civil government revenue grew approximately 15% year-over-year.
  • Commercial sector faced headwinds but showed signs of stabilization.
  • Planet is focusing on embedding data into core operational workflows, improving net dollar retention and average contract sizes.
  • The company is targeting growth acceleration in fiscal 2026 and beyond, supported by backlog growth and new contracts.

---

2. Strategic Focus on Artificial Intelligence (AI)

• AI-Enabled Solutions and Partnerships:

  • Planet released a physics-based resolution sharpening technique improving daily scan visual product usability.
  • Advanced low-touch enablement in the Planet Insights platform to automate and expand access for smaller customers.
  • Launched the first fully automated low-touch package on tropical forest observatory data for self-serve users.
  • Leveraging AI for solutions such as maritime domain awareness (MDA) and the Global Monitoring Service (GMS), which uses AI to scan entire countries or regions for changes and threats.
  • Partnered with AI leaders, notably Anthropic, to explore combining satellite data with foundation AI models.
    • Anthropic is fine-tuning its Claude model on Planet’s satellite data to enhance model accuracy.
    • This collaboration is mutually beneficial: AI unlocks value from satellite data, and satellite data helps AI models address real-world problems.
  • Planet’s unique dataset includes daily scans and a deep archive averaging over 3,000 images per location on Earth’s landmass, positioning it uniquely for AI integration.
  • AI is viewed as a strategic focus for fiscal 2026, expected to accelerate solution development and broaden accessibility to Planet’s data.
  • Near-term monetization focus is on AI-enabled solutions like maritime domain awareness, which already generates meaningful revenue and is growing.
  • Foundation model efforts with Anthropic are more experimental but hold promise for speeding time to value and expanding the customer base, including those without geospatial expertise.

• AI as a Growth Accelerant:

  • Planet sees AI as an "incredible accelerant" to delivering value and enabling new solutions.
  • AI-powered solutions, combined with new data sets and satellite services partnerships, are key drivers for growth acceleration in fiscal 2026 and beyond.
  • Investments in AI and software engineering teams are ongoing to innovate and maintain market leadership.

---

3. Financial and Operational Implications

• The JSAT contract and AI initiatives are expected to contribute to:
  • Revenue growth acceleration, with a goal to at least double the revenue growth rate by fiscal 2027 compared to fiscal 2026.
  • Improved gross margins, with long-term targets of 70% to 80%, supported by monetizing incremental Pelican capacity.
  • Positive adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow within the next 24 months.
  • Reduced cash burn in fiscal 2026 despite peak capital expenditures for satellite fleet expansion and AI investments.

---

Summary:
Planet Labs is strategically advancing its satellite services business by entering significant partnerships like the JSAT deal to build and operate dedicated satellite constellations, while commercially monetizing global capacity. Concurrently, the company is intensifying its focus on AI capabilities, partnering with leading AI firms to enhance satellite data analytics and develop AI-powered solutions such as maritime domain awareness and global monitoring. These initiatives are designed to accelerate growth, improve operational efficiency, and expand market reach across defense, civil government, and commercial sectors.