Planet Delivers Strong First Quarter of 2021, Continues to Scale

Planet is off to a strong start to 2021. We closed another stellar quarter, ending April 30th (our fiscal first quarter), in which we built on the momentum of last year, continued to grow our customer base, hit key milestones, strengthened our global team, and deployed impactful technologies. We’re excited as our results continue to demonstrate the long-term, predictable growth of our business. 

The world is ready for Planet: as the global economy reboots out of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a strong push to boot back into a sustainable economy. Planet is here to power that transition; our data is playing a mission-critical role in it. 

Here are the highlights!

Strong Business Momentum

We grew our overall customer count by 42% year-over-year. Our customer base continued to expand and diversify beyond the traditional geospatial markets and into new and emerging markets that have the potential for significant and long-term growth, including forestry, state and local government, energy, finance, and insurance markets. 

Customers are recognizing the value Planet data can bring to their organization and are incorporating Planet into their workflows to make smarter decisions. For example: 

• Solinftec, a leading developer and distributor of digital agriculture solutions, incorporated Planet data into their agtech platform, allowing farmers and agricultural retailers to make more informed crop decisions.
• NASA extended Planet data to all NASA-funded researchers under their Commercial SmallSat Data Acquisition (CSDA) Program. 
• The government of Afghanistan now uses Planet data to measure and observe developments throughout the country, from climate change to peace negotiations.

Go for Launch

In January (just before our fiscal Q1), we successfully launched 48 SuperDoves with SpaceX. This record-setting launch carried 143 satellites to orbit – the most spacecraft ever deployed on a single mission and of which Planet was the largest set. These satellites are equipped with new spectral bands and improvements to image sharpness and quality and joined our existing constellation to deliver unmatched medium-resolution global coverage. 

We’re continually iterating on our spacecraft design, leveraging agile aerospace to develop and launch into orbit the latest technologies to deliver the data and solutions our customers need today and tomorrow. 

In April, we announced our partnership with Carbon Mapper – a new coalition of private and public sector organizations committed to improving our understanding of and accelerating reductions in global greenhouse gases. Phase 1 of the program is already underway and Planet is developing the first two hyperspectral satellites with NASA JPL that will pinpoint, quantify, and track point-source methane and CO2 emissions.

Building the Best Team 

We made a series of key leadership hires this quarter as we continue to deliver scalable products and mission-critical solutions, driving Planet’s rapid growth. Kevin Weil joined Planet as President of Product and Business, embodying our transition and focus to a software company, Krisiti Erickson came onboard as Chief People Officer (CPO), to enable and expand our tremendous team of Planeteers, and Robert Cardillo joined Planet Federal as Chief Strategist and Chairman, to uplevel our commitment to serving customers in the security domain. 

We’re also excited to share two promotions at the executive level. Ashley Johnson has taken on the role of Chief Operations Officer (COO), in addition to her role as Chief Financial Officer (CFO). And Charlie Candy, who previously led sales for Planet across the EMEA region, has been promoted to Planet’s Chief Revenue Officer (CRO). 

Onward!

Driven by the strength of our business and the dedication of our team, Planet made strong advances throughout Q1 and gained significant momentum moving into the middle of 2021. We look forward to delighting our customers as we deploy new services and help users address their environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) responsibilities.