Planet

Planet photographs the entire landmass of the Earth every day. Around 200 five-kilogram SuperDoves do that at three metres per pixel, SkySats task at half a metre, nine Pelicans carry NVIDIA processors for high-resolution work, and Tanager satellites read the spectrum finely enough to pick out methane plumes. The archive all that has produced, now more than a decade deep, is the real asset.

The shape of the business has changed. Planet used to sell imagery subscriptions and increasingly sells sovereign capacity, dedicating satellites and direct downlink to a single government. Germany signed a €240 million contract on those terms and Sweden a nine-figure one that included its first national reconnaissance satellite, and defence and intelligence revenue grew by more than 65 per cent year on year in early 2026.

Planet has never been profitable under standard accounting. It reached adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow positive for the first time in the year to January 2026, which is genuine, but the accounting loss for that year was $246.9 million and the following quarter alone was $138.9 million, much of it a non-cash revaluation of warrants. The growth also dilutes the margin, because sovereign capacity deals earn less per dollar than archive subscriptions: gross margin has fallen from 59 per cent toward a guided 50 to 52, and the further the defence business grows the further that goes. Revenue is also concentrating into a small number of very large government contracts, which makes the next few years a bet on European defence budgets.