Satellogic, the world’s first vertically integrated geospatial analytics company, today announced the appointment of Rick Dunn as the company’s new Chief Financial Officer. Dunn brings over 25 years of financial leadership to Satellogic, including executive roles in both public and private companies as well as over 10 years in public accounting. Most recently, Dunn served as CFO of PowerTeam Services, helping facilitate their acquisition by private equity owners in September 2018.
The agreement with ABDAS, a Chinese data science company, gives that company exclusive access to Satellogic’s constellation of imaging satellites for imaging sites within China’s Henan Province. ABDAS will have control over what sites to observe within the province when the satellites are passing overhead. The agreement is valued at $38 million, Satellogic said in a Sept. 9 statement.
He said the company has seen “significant traction” for the dedicated satellite constellation concept for customers at both the regional and national level, particularly for countries that are just starting to develop Earth observation capabilities, such as in Latin America and Africa. “We expect this to be the first of many” such deals, he said.Satellogic currently has eight satellites in orbit, providing multispectral imagery at a resolution of one meter and hyperspectral imagery at a resolution of 30 meters. Sixteen more satellites are scheduled for the next several months on Long March and Vega rockets. That includes 13 on a dedicated Long March 6 rocket in July 2020.
The agreement with ABDAS, a Chinese data science company, gives that company exclusive access to Satellogic’s constellation of imaging satellites for imaging sites within China’s Henan Province. ABDAS will have control over what sites to observe within the province when the satellites are passing overhead. The agreement is valued at $38 million, Satellogic said in a Sept. 9 statement....Satellogic currently has eight satellites in orbit, providing multispectral imagery at a resolution of one meter and hyperspectral imagery at a resolution of 30 meters. Sixteen more satellites are scheduled for the next several months on Long March and Vega rockets. That includes 13 on a dedicated Long March 6 rocket in July 2020.
The diminished revenues have forced the company to cut costs. That included laying off 18% of its workforce in the third quarter, reducing its staff to about 380 people. Rick Dunn, Satellogic’s chief financial officer, said the number of employees would remain “more or less flat” in 2023.The company has also scaled back the growth of its constellation. In that November 2021 presentation, Satellogic projected having 111 satellites in orbit in 2023. The company will instead end 2023 with no more than 47 satellites, although Kargieman said in the call that some of the 10 satellites it launched in October 2020 could be retired by the end of 2023 as they reach the end of their three-year design life.With those reduced projections, Satellogic has delayed completion of a new high-throughput satellite manufacturing facility it planned to open in 2022 in the Netherlands. That factory, which Satellogic said in late 2021 would be fully operational by the start of 2023, was designed to produce 25 satellites a quarter.