Satellite imagery specialist BlackSky is going public in latest space SPAC

• Seattle-based satellite imagery specialist BlackSky is the latest space venture that will soon begin trading publicly.
• BlackSky is merging with special purpose acquisition company Osprey Technology.
• Osprey's SPAC currently trades under the ticker SFTW.

Seattle-based satellite imagery specialist BlackSky is the latest space venture that will soon begin trading publicly, with the company on Thursday announcing a SPAC deal.

BlackSky is merging with special purpose acquisition company Osprey Technology. BlackSky will list on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker BKSY when the deal closes, which is expected in July.

"This transaction fully funds our growth plans and accelerates our vision of providing our customers with a 'first-to-know' advantage. This is an important inflection point for our industry as commercial and government users demand access to real time information about the changes that matter most to them," BlackSky CEO Brian O'Toole said in a statement.

Osprey's SPAC currently trades under the ticker SFTW. Osprey is led by investors Edward Cohen and Jonathan Cohen alongside JANA Partners' David DiDomenico. The shares jumped as much as 37% in premarket trading Thursday.

BlackSky expects to raise about $450 million in cash proceeds through the deal, including $180 million in a PIPE round with investors including Tiger Global, Mithril Capital (the investment firm of Ajay Royan and Peter Thiel), Hedosophia (the venture fund of U.K. investor Ian Osborne), and Senator Investment Group.

The merger's value is expected to be $1.5 billion based on the value of the PIPE, according to the release.

The company plans to use the funds to further progress toward its goal of a network of 30 imaging satellites, to capture imagery of anywhere on the planet every 30 minutes. To date BlackSky has five satellites in operation, an plans add nine more satellites in orbit later this year. The company's vertically integrated joint venture LeoStella, with French-Italian manufacturer Thales Alenia Space, builds the BlackSky satellites.

BlackSky represents the latest in a series of space companies that have announced deals to go public through a SPAC – following rocket builder Astra, satellite broadband focused AST & Science, and space transportation specialist Momentus in the past few months. Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic also went public through a SPAC deal with Chamath Palihapitiya's venture in 2019.

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