BlackSky Holdings, which is operating a growing fleet of Earth observation satellites as well as a cloud-based platform to analyze geospatial data, says it will become a publicly traded company through a blank-check merger valued at nearly $1.5 billion.
The agreement with Osprey Technology Acquisition Corp. would result in BlackSky being listed on the NYSE with the ticker symbol “BKSY” in July.
It’s the latest chapter for a company that traces its roots to Seattle — and still has roughly half of its 135-employee workforce here. The other half of the operation is based in Herndon, Va.
The merger could produce as much as $450 million in net proceeds for the combined company, which would be used to extend BlackSky’s Spectra data analytics platform, expand BlackSky’s Global satellite constellation, add to the company’s array of data feeds and boost its marketing efforts.
BlackSky says its pipeline of business opportunities has grown by $1.1 billion in the past 12 months and stands at $1.7 billion today. Many of those opportunities involve contracts with government agencies in the U.S. and around the world.
