Planet Labs PBC (PL) FY 2025 MD&A
This page reproduces the company's own Item 7 MD&A text from the linked SEC filing. It is filer text, not grepcent analysis, scoring, or investment advice.
Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS OF PLANET
The following Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations (“MD&A”) is intended to help the reader understand the results of operations and financial condition of Planet Labs PBC. The MD&A is provided as a supplement to and should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and related notes included in Part II, Item 8, “Financial Statements” of this Form 10-K. This discussion contains forward-looking statements and involves numerous risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, those described in Part I, Item 1A, “Risk Factors” of this Form 10-K. Actual results may differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. Our historical results are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for any period in the future.
This MD&A generally discusses fiscal year ended January 31, 2025 and fiscal year ended January 31, 2024 items and year-to-year comparisons between fiscal year ended January 31, 2025 and fiscal year ended January 31, 2024. Discussions of fiscal year ended January 31, 2023 items and year-to-year comparisons between the fiscal year ended January 31, 2024 and the fiscal year ended January 31, 2023 that are not included in this Form 10-K can be found in “Part II, Item 7, Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” of the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2024, filed with the SEC on March 29, 2024.
Business and Overview
Our mission is to use space to help life on Earth, by imaging the world every day and making global change visible, accessible, and actionable. Our platform includes imagery, insights, and machine learning that empower companies, governments, and communities around the world to make timely decisions about our evolving world.
As a public benefit corporation, our purpose is to accelerate humanity toward a more sustainable, secure, and prosperous world, by illuminating the most important forms of environmental and social change.
We deliver a differentiated data set: a new image of the entire Earth’s landmass, constantly refreshed. To collect this powerful data set, we design, build and operate hundreds of satellites, making our fleet the largest Earth observation fleet of satellites in history. Our daily stream of proprietary data and machine learning analytics, delivered through our cloud-native platform, helps companies, governments and civil society use satellite imagery to discover insights as change happens.
To help further our mission, we have developed advanced satellite technology that increases the cost performance of each satellite. This has enabled us to launch large fleets of satellites at lower cost and in turn record over 3,000 images on average for every point on Earth’s landmass, a non-replicable historical archive that can power analytics, machine learning, and insights. We have advanced data processing capabilities that enable us to produce “AI-ready” data sets and have partnered with third-parties to offer AI-enabled data solutions. As these data sets continue to grow and we continue to develop these partnerships, we believe the value of our data and analytics solutions to our customers will further increase.
We currently serve customers across large commercial and government verticals, including agriculture, mapping, energy, forestry, finance and insurance, as well as federal, civil, state, and local governments. Our customers in government and commercial markets, leverage our product capabilities to monitor and manage global change over broad areas to take action.
Our proprietary data set and analytics are delivered pursuant to subscription and usage-based data licensing agreements and are accessed by our customers through our online platform and subscription APIs. We believe our efficient cost structure, one-to-many business model and differentiated data set have enabled the growth of our business.
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The Business Combination
On July 7, 2021, Planet Labs Inc. (“Former Planet”) entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Merger Agreement”) with dMY Technology Group, Inc. IV (“dMY IV”), a special purpose acquisition company (“SPAC”) incorporated in Delaware on December 15, 2020, Photon Merger Sub, Inc., a Delaware corporation and a direct wholly owned subsidiary of dMY IV (“First Merger Sub”), and Photon Merger Sub Two, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company and a direct wholly owned subsidiary of dMY IV (“Second Merger Sub”). Pursuant to the Merger Agreement, on December 7, 2021, First Merger Sub merged with and into Former Planet (the “Surviving Corporation”), with Former Planet surviving the merger as a wholly owned subsidiary of dMY IV (the “First Merger”), and the Surviving Corporation merged with and into dMY IV, with dMY IV surviving the merger (the “Business Combination”). Following the completion of the Business Combination, dMY IV was renamed Planet Labs PBC.
As a result of the Business Combination, we became a public company listed on the NYSE which required us to hire additional personnel and implement procedures and processes to address public company regulatory requirements and customary practices.
Our Business Model
We primarily generate revenue through selling licenses to our data and analytics to customers over a cloud-based platform via fixed price subscription and usage-based contracts. Data licensing subscriptions and minimum commitment usage-based contracts provide a large recurring revenue base for our business with a low incremental cost to serve each additional customer. Payment terms of our customer agreements are most commonly in advance on an either quarterly or annual basis, although a small number of large contracts have required payment terms that are monthly or quarterly in arrears. Additionally, we also generate a small amount of revenue from sales of third-party imagery, professional services, and customer support. From time to time, we have also entered into strategic satellite services and technologies partnerships in which we build and operate satellites for our partners.
We employ a “land-and-expand” go-to-market strategy with the goal to deliver increasing value to our customers and generate more revenue with each customer over time by expanding the scope of the services we offer. We work closely with our customers and partners to enable their early success, both from an account management and technical management perspective. Deeper adoption from our customers comes in many forms, including more users, more area coverage, and more advanced software analytics capabilities.
Key elements of our growth strategy include:
Scaling in Existing Verticals:
We have invested in our sales and marketing efforts to address the vertical markets in which we operate, as well as in software solutions to expand within our existing customer base. We plan to further penetrate vertical markets in which end users are early adopters of geospatial data, such as civil government, agriculture, and defense and intelligence through targeted sales and marketing activities and continued investment in new solutions for these verticals.
Expansion into New Verticals and Applications:
We plan to invest in our offerings to make our data more actionable and accessible to a larger group of customers and users, including non-geospatial experts such as data and business analysts in government and commercial organizations. We believe this will help us address use cases in key emerging markets such as energy, infrastructure, finance, insurance, and consumer packaged goods. We also intend to partner with companies building vertical market solutions, such as independent software vendors, as well as business intelligence and analytics providers. While we have customers and partners today in many of these verticals, we believe enhancing our data to meet their needs has the potential to accelerate the proliferation of our data and analytics usage across more end users. Additionally, we currently have multiple partners with solutions that rapidly generate insights for their customers using our licensed proprietary data and Planet Analytics or their AI technology. Their capabilities include training models on our proprietary data to find any object of interest to a user over broad areas of land or sea. We believe recent and ongoing industry advancements in AI will support making our datasets more accessible to customers and users across new and existing verticals by speeding customer time to value through these capabilities.
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Continued Investment in Data Products and Solutions:
We plan to scale and expand our existing products, as well as add new solutions, by building on our machine learning and computer vision capabilities with remote sensing techniques to fuse multiple data sources. These products allow our customers to consume simple, actionable time-series data within their existing workflows. We intend to create many of these key data sets internally, as well as in collaboration with our partners who have deep vertical expertise.
Establish Platform Ecosystem:
We plan to further develop our ecosystem of users and partners to build solutions leveraging our data and platform and to build software tools and APIs that make it even easier to do so. By developing a robust applications ecosystem, we believe we can create a network effect, potentially accelerating our growth and deepening our market penetration.
New Sensors & Data Sets: We plan to make strategic investments in building new sensors to capture additional data sets from space. As we grow our customer base and the use cases we can address, we believe we can better understand what additional data sets our customers are eager to access and therefore which sensors might enable us to capture additional data that is valuable to such customers. By leveraging our agile aerospace approach to space systems, we believe we are well-positioned to introduce new Earth observation sensors into orbit to capture new types of data with greater capital efficiency and speed than other satellite data providers. Having these capabilities can deepen our value proposition to customers and help us both acquire new customers and expand our offering to existing customers.
Factors Affecting Our Results of Operations
We believe that our financial condition and result of operations have been, and will continue to be, affected by a number of factors that present significant opportunities for us but also pose risks and challenges, including those discussed below and in the section of this Form 10-K titled “Risk Factors.”
Recent Developments
Headcount Reduction
In June 2024, we committed to a plan to reduce our global headcount by approximately 17% of our total number of employees prior to the reduction (the “2024 headcount reduction”). This action was taken consistent with our ongoing focus on aligning the Company’s resources to the market opportunity, improving operational efficiency, and supporting the long-term growth and profitability of the business.
As a result of the 2024 headcount reduction, in the fiscal year ended January 31, 2025, we recognized $10.6 million of costs for one-time employee termination benefits consisting of severance and other employee-related costs. We also recognized a $1.4 million stock-based compensation benefit primarily related to the reversal of previously recognized stock-based compensation expenses for unvested stock awards. The headcount reductions, including the remaining cash payments, were substantially complete as of January 31, 2025. Refer to Note 7 “Restructuring” for further information regarding the 2024 headcount reduction.
Commercial Satellite Agreement
In January 2025, Planet entered into a multi-year $230 million commercial agreement with SKY Perfect JSAT (“JSAT”) through its U.S.-based subsidiary. Pursuant to the agreement, Planet will build and operate a constellation of ten Pelican high resolution satellites that will be owned by JSAT. In connection with the agreement, Planet is provided with licensing rights for certain imagery generated from the Pelicans that it will utilize to serve its customers around the world. The satellites are expected to launch beginning in 2027. There was no revenue recognized for the agreement during the fiscal year ended January 31, 2025.
The agreement includes payments totaling $230 million which become payable based on specified milestones. We expect that revenue for the build of the Pelicans will be recognized over time as work progresses and that revenue for services will be recognized as they are rendered. We expect that costs associated with the build of the Pelicans and performance of services will be recognized as cost of revenue.
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Continuing to Acquire New Customers
Attracting new customers is an important factor affecting our future growth and operating performance. We believe our ability to attract customers will be driven by our ability to continue to improve our data and offer software and analytic solutions that make our data easier to consume and integrate into our customers’ workflows, our success in offering new data sets and products to solve customer problems, increases in our global sales presence and increases in our marketing investments. As part of this strategy, we have recently made Planet’s data available for purchase directly through our Planet Insights Platform (which has integrated the former Sentinel Hub platform), which facilitates rapid user adoption, particularly by empowering users to self-service our solutions without formal sales interaction. We believe this serves as a natural entry point for some of our smaller accounts, enabling them to realize the value of Planet’s offerings, leading to broader awareness of our solutions throughout their networks and organizations.
In addition, we plan to continue investing in making our data more digestible and accessible to non-technical business users and to build solutions to address more use cases and expand our addressable market. As a result of this strategy, we anticipate continuing to invest in our research and development. We will also aim to expand our reach with customers by partnering with independent software vendors and solution providers who are building vertical market-specific solutions. While we have customers and partners today in many markets, we believe that our increased investment in developing software analytics solutions has the potential to accelerate the usage of our data and analytics across broader audiences. Additionally, the timing of securing new customer contracts, including when it occurs during the year and the length of the sales cycle, as well as the size of the contracts, can impact our operating performance.
Retention and Expansion of Existing Customers
To increase customer retention and expansion of revenue from existing customers, we are making a number of investments in our operations. Customer retention and expansion is driven by the speed with which our customers realize the value of our data once they become customers, our ability to cross-sell our different products to our existing customers and our ability to offer new products to our customers. Therefore, to increase customer retention and sales to existing customers, we have invested in our customer success function, continuous improvements to our existing data, and the software tools and analytic tools that make our data easier to consume. As a result of such investments, we anticipate our cost of revenue, operating expenses, and capital expenditures may increase as we continue to prioritize customer retention and expansion.
Developing New Sensors and Data Sets
We plan to make strategic investments in building new sensors to capture additional data sets from space. As we grow our customer base and the use cases we can address, we believe we can better understand what additional data sets our customers are eager to access and therefore which sensors might enable us to capture additional data that is valuable to such customers. By leveraging our agile aerospace approach to space systems, we believe we are well-positioned to introduce new Earth observation sensors into orbit to capture new types of data with greater capital efficiency and speed than other satellite data providers. Having these capabilities can deepen our value proposition to customers and help us both acquire new customers and expand our offering to existing customers.
Investment Decisions
We regularly review our existing customers and target markets to determine where we should invest in our product and technology roadmap, both for our space systems engineering to enable new geospatial coverage models, as well as our software engineering focused on providing sophisticated analytics models and tools to service an expanding set of markets and use cases. Our financial performance relies heavily on effective balance between driving continued growth, maintaining technology leadership, and improving margins across the business.
Seasonality
We have experienced, and expect to continue to experience, seasonality in our business and fluctuations in our operating results due to customer behavior, buying patterns and usage-based contracts. For example, we typically have customers who increase their usage of our data services when they need more frequent data monitoring over broader areas during peak agricultural seasons, during natural disasters or other global events, or when commodity prices are at certain levels. These customers may expand their usage and then subsequently scale back. We believe that the seasonal trends that we have experienced in the past may occur in the future. To the extent that we experience seasonality, it may impact our operating results and financial metrics, as well as our ability to forecast
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future operating results and financial metrics. Additionally, when we introduce new products to the market, we may not have sufficient experience in selling certain products to determine if demand for these products are or will be subject to material seasonality.
Key Operational and Business Metrics
In addition to the measures presented in our consolidated financial statements, we use the following key operational and business metrics to evaluate our business, measure our performance, develop financial forecasts, and make strategic decisions.
ACV and EoP ACV Book of Business
In connection with the calculation of several of the key operational and business metrics we utilize, we calculate Annual Contract Value (“ACV”) for contracts of one year or greater as the total amount of value that a customer has contracted to pay for the most recent 12 month period for the contract, excluding customers that are exclusively Planet Insights Platform (which has integrated the former Sentinel Hub platform) self-service paying users, as well as the value of any satellite services contracts. For short-term contracts (contracts less than 12 months), ACV is equal to total contract value.
We also calculate EoP ACV Book of Business in connection with the calculation of several of the key operational and business metrics we utilize. We define EoP ACV Book of Business as the sum of the ACV of all contracts that are active on the last day of the period pursuant to the effective dates and end dates of such contracts, excluding customers that are exclusively Planet Insights Platform self-service paying users. Active contracts exclude any contract that has been canceled, expired prior to the last day of the period without renewing, or for any other reason is not expected to generate revenue in the subsequent period. For contracts ending on the last day of the period, the ACV is either updated to reflect the ACV of the renewed contract or, if the contract has not yet renewed or extended, the ACV is excluded from the EoP ACV Book of Business. We do not annualize short-term contracts in calculating our EoP ACV Book of Business. We calculate the ACV of usage-based contracts based on the committed contracted revenue or the revenue achieved on the usage-based contract in the prior 12-month period.
Net Dollar Retention Rate
| Year Ended January 31, | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2024 | ||||
| Net Dollar Retention Rate | 106 | % | 101 | % |
We define Net Dollar Retention Rate as the percentage of ACV generated by existing customers in a given period as compared to the ACV of all contracts at the beginning of the fiscal year from the same set of existing customers. We define existing customers as customers with an active contract with Planet. We believe our Net Dollar Retention Rate is a useful metric for investors as it can be used to measure our ability to retain and grow revenue generated from our existing customers, on which our ability to drive long-term growth and profitability is, in part, dependent. We use Net Dollar Retention Rate to assess customer adoption of new products, inform opportunities to make improvements across our products, identify opportunities to improve operations, and manage go to market functions, as well as to understand how much future growth may come from cross-selling and up-selling customers. Management applies judgment in determining the value of active contracts in a given period, as set forth in the definition of ACV above. Net Dollar Retention Rate increased to 106% for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2025 as compared to 101% for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2024, primarily due to large government contract expansions during the fiscal year ended January 31, 2025.
Net Dollar Retention Rate including Winbacks
| Year Ended January 31, | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2024 | ||||
| Net Dollar Retention Rate including Winbacks | 108 | % | 103 | % |
We assess two metrics for net dollar retention—Net Dollar Retention Rate, as described above, and Net Dollar Retention Rate including winbacks. A winback is a previously existing customer that was inactive at the start of the
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measurement period but has reactivated during the measurement period. The reactivation period must be within 24 months from the last active contract with the customer; otherwise, the customer is counted as a new customer and therefore excluded from the retention rate metrics. We define Net Dollar Retention Rate including winbacks as the percentage of ACV generated by existing customers and winbacks in a given period as compared to the ACV of all contracts at the beginning of the fiscal year from the same set of existing customers. We believe this metric is useful to investors as it captures the value of customer contracts that resume business with Planet after being inactive and thereby provides a quantification of Planet’s ability to recapture lost business. Management uses this metric to understand the adoption of our products and long-term customer retention, as well as the success of marketing campaigns and sales initiatives in re-engaging inactive customers. Beyond the judgments underlying managements’ calculation of Net Dollar Retention Rate set forth above, there are no additional assumptions or estimates made in connection with Net Dollar Retention Rate including winbacks. Net Dollar Retention Rate including winbacks increased to 108% for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2025 as compared to 103% for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2024, primarily due to large government contract expansions during the fiscal year ended January 31, 2025.
EoP Customer Count
| Year Ended January 31, | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2024 | ||
| EoP Customer Count | 976 | 1,018 |
We define EoP Customer Count as the total count of all existing customers at the end of the period excluding customers that are exclusively Planet Insights Platform (which has integrated the former Sentinel Hub platform) self-service paying users. For EoP Customer Count, we define existing customers as customers with an active contract with us at the end of the reported period. For the purpose of this metric, we define a customer as a distinct entity that uses our data or services. We sell directly to customers, as well as indirectly through our partner network. If a partner does not provide the end customer’s name, then the partner is reported as the customer. Each customer, regardless of the number of active opportunities with us, is counted only once. For example, if a customer utilizes multiple products of Planet, we only count that customer once for purposes of EoP Customer Count. A customer with multiple divisions, segments, or subsidiaries are also counted as a single unique customer based on the parent organization or parent account. For EoP Customer Count, we do not include users that only utilize our self-service Planet Insights Platform web based ordering system, which we acquired in August 2023, and which offers standard starter packages on a monthly or annual basis. We believe excluding these users from EoP Customer Count creates a more useful metric, as we view the Planet Insights Platform starter packages as entry points for smaller accounts, leading to broader awareness of our solutions throughout their networks and organizations. We believe EoP Customer Count is a useful metric for investors and management to track as it is an important indicator of the broader adoption of our platform and is a measure of our success in growing our market presence and penetration. Management applies judgment as to which customers are deemed to have an active contract in a period, as well as whether a customer is a distinct entity that uses our data or services. The EoP Customer Count decreased to 976 as of January 31, 2025, as compared to 1,018 as of January 31, 2024. The decrease was primarily attributable to an increased focus on larger customers.
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Percent of Recurring ACV
| Year Ended January 31, | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2024 | ||||
| Percent of Recurring ACV | 97 | % | 93 | % |
Percent of Recurring ACV is the portion of the total EoP ACV Book of Business that is recurring in nature. We define ACV Book of Business as the sum of the ACV of all contracts that are active on the last day of the period pursuant to the effective dates and end dates of such contracts, excluding customers that are exclusively Planet Insights Platform (which has integrated the former Sentinel Hub platform) self-service paying users, as well as the value of any satellite services contracts. We define Percent of Recurring ACV as the dollar value of all data subscription contracts and the committed portion of usage-based contracts (excluding customers that are exclusively Planet Insights Platform self-service paying users) divided by the total dollar value of all contracts in our EoP ACV Book of Business. We believe Percent of Recurring ACV is useful to investors to better understand how much of our revenue is from customers that have the potential to renew their contracts over multiple years rather than being one-time in nature. We track Percent of Recurring ACV to inform estimates for the future revenue growth potential of our business and improve the predictability of our financial results. There are no significant estimates underlying management’s calculation of Percent of Recurring ACV, but management applies judgment as to which customers have an active contract at a period end for the purpose of determining EoP ACV Book of Business, which is used as part of the calculation of Percent of Recurring ACV. Percent of Recurring ACV increased to 97% for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2025, as compared to 93% for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2024. The increase was primarily attributable to demand of data subscription and usage-based contracts from large government customers.
Capital Expenditures as a Percentage of Revenue
| Year Ended January 31, | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 2024 | ||||
| Capital Expenditures as Percentage of Revenue | 20 | % | 19 | % |
We define capital expenditures as purchases of property and equipment plus capitalized internally developed software development costs, which are included in our statements of cash flows from investing activities. We define Capital Expenditures as a Percentage of Revenue as the total amount of capital expenditures divided by total revenue in the reported period. Capital Expenditures as a Percentage of Revenue is a performance measure that we use to evaluate the appropriate level of capital expenditures needed to support demand for our data services and related revenue, and to provide a comparable view of our performance relative to other earth observation companies, which may invest significantly greater amounts in their satellites to deliver their data to customers. We use an agile space systems strategy, which means we invest in a larger number of significantly lower cost satellites and software infrastructure to automate the management of the satellites and to deliver our data to clients. As a result of our strategy and our business model, our capital expenditures may be more similar to software companies with large data center infrastructure costs. Therefore, we believe it is important to look at our level of capital expenditure investments relative to revenue when evaluating our performance relative to other earth observation companies or to other software and data companies with significant data center infrastructure investment requirements. We believe Capital Expenditures as a Percentage of Revenue is a useful metric for investors because it provides visibility to the level of capital expenditures required to operate our business and our relative capital efficiency. Capital Expenditures as a Percentage of Revenue increased to 20% for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2025, as compared to 19% for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2024. The increase in Capital Expenditures as a Percentage of Revenue was primarily attributable to an increase in capitalized labor and material related to the build of our next generation high resolution Pelican satellites, our hyperspectral imaging Tanager satellites and our medium resolution satellites.
Components of Results of Operations
Revenue
We derive revenue principally from licensing rights to use our imagery that is delivered digitally through our online platform in addition to providing related services. Imagery licensing agreements vary by contract, but generally have
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annual or multi-year contractual terms. The data licenses are generally purchased via a fixed price contract on a subscription or usage basis, whereby a customer pays for access to our imagery or derived imagery data, delivered by Planet or through partners, which may be downloaded over a specific period of time, or, less frequently, on a transactional basis, whereby the customer pays for individual content licenses.
We also provide a small amount of other services to customers, including professional services such as training, analytical services, and other value-added activities related to our imagery, data and technology. These revenues are recognized as the services are rendered, on a proportional performance basis for fixed price contracts or ratably over the contract term for subscription professional services and analytics contracts. Training revenues are recognized as the services are performed.
Cost of Revenue
Cost of revenue consists of employee-related costs of performing account and data provisioning, customer support, satellite and engineering operations, as well as the costs of operating and retrieving information from the satellites, processing and storing the data retrieved, third party imagery expenses, depreciation of satellites and ground stations, amortization of acquired intangibles and amortization of capitalized internal-use software related to creating imagery provided to customers. Employee-related costs include salaries, benefits, bonuses and stock-based compensation. To a lesser extent, cost of revenue includes costs from professional services, including costs paid to subcontractors, solution partners and certain third-party fees.
We expect cost of revenue to continue to increase as we invest in our delivery organization, build and launch satellites for customers that have purchased satellite services, incorporate third-party products into our solutions and introduce future product sets that may require higher compute capacity. As we continue to grow our subscription revenue contracts and increase the revenue associated with our analytic capabilities, we anticipate further economies of scale on our satellites and other infrastructure costs as we incur lower marginal cost with each new customer we add to our platform.
Research and Development
Research and development expenses primarily include personnel related expenses for employees and consultants, hardware costs, supplies costs, contractor fees and administrative expenses. Employee-related costs include salaries, benefits, bonuses and stock-based compensation. Expenses classified as research and development are expensed as incurred and attributable to advancing technology research, platform and infrastructure development and the research and development of new product iterations. Funding for our performance of research and development services under certain arrangements are recognized as a reduction of research and development expenses based on a cost incurred method.
We continue to iterate on the design of our satellites and the capabilities of our automated operations to optimize for efficiency and technical capability of each satellite. Costs associated with satellite and other space related research and development activities are expensed as incurred.
We intend to continue to invest in our software platform development, machine learning and analytic tools and applications and new satellite technologies for both the satellite fleet operations and data collection capabilities to drive incremental value to our existing customers and to enable us to expand our traction in emerging markets and with new customers. As a result of the foregoing, research and development expenditures may increase in future periods.
Sales and Marketing
Sales and marketing expenses primarily include costs incurred to market and distribute our products. Such costs include expenses related to advertising and conferences, sales commissions, salaries, benefits and stock-based compensation for our sales and marketing personnel and sales office expenses. Sales and marketing expenses also include fees for professional and consulting services principally consisting of public relations and independent contractor expenses. Sales commissions are capitalized when incurred and amortized on a straight-line basis over the period of benefit. Other sales and marketing costs are expensed as incurred.
We intend to continue to invest in our selling and marketing capabilities in the future and may increase this expense in future periods as we look to upsell new product features and expand into new market verticals. Selling and marketing expenses as a percentage of total revenue may fluctuate from period to period based on total revenue and the timing of our investments.
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General and Administrative
General and administrative expenses include personnel-related expenses and facilities-related costs primarily for our executive, finance, accounting, legal and human resources functions. General and administrative expenses also include fees for professional services principally consisting of legal, audit, tax, and insurance, as well as executive management expenses. General and administrative costs are expensed as incurred.
We expect to continue to incur additional general and administrative expenses as a result of operating as a public company, including expenses related to compliance and reporting obligations of public companies, and increased costs for insurance, investor relations, and professional services. Our general and administrative expenses may increase in future periods and vary from period to period as a percentage of revenue, but we expect to continue to realize operating scale with respect to these expenses over time as we grow our revenue.
Interest Income
Interest income primarily consists of interest earned on our cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments. Our cash equivalent and short-term investment portfolio is invested with a goal of preserving our access to capital, and generally consists of money market funds, commercial paper, corporate debt securities and U.S. government and U.S. government agency debt securities.
Change in Fair Value of Warrant Liabilities
The change in fair value of warrant liabilities consists of the change in fair value of the public and private placement warrant liabilities. We expect to incur other incremental income or expense for fair value adjustments resulting from warrant liabilities that remain outstanding.
Other Income (Expense), net
Other income (expense), net, consists of net gains or losses on foreign currency and certain other non-operating income and expense items.
Provision for Income Taxes
Our income tax provision consists of an estimate for U.S. federal and state income taxes, as well as those foreign jurisdictions where we have business operations, based on enacted tax rates, as adjusted for allowable credits, deductions, uncertain tax positions, changes in deferred tax assets and liabilities, and changes in the tax law. We believe that it is more likely than not that the majority of the U.S. and foreign deferred tax assets will not be realized. Accordingly, we recorded a valuation allowance against our deferred tax assets in these jurisdictions.
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Results of Operations
Year Ended January 31, 2025 Compared to Year Ended January 31, 2024
The following table sets forth a summary of our consolidated results of operations for the years indicated and the changes between such periods.
| Year EndedJanuary 31, | $ | % | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (in thousands, except percentages) | 2025 | 2024 | Change | Change | |||||||||||
| Revenue | $ | 244,352 | $ | 220,696 | $ | 23,656 | 11 | % | |||||||
| Cost of revenue | 104,627 | 107,746 | (3,119) | (3) | % | ||||||||||
| Gross profit | 139,725 | 112,950 | 26,775 | 24 | % | ||||||||||
| Operating expenses | |||||||||||||||
| Research and development | 101,006 | 116,339 | (15,333) | (13) | % | ||||||||||
| Sales and marketing | 77,694 | 86,304 | (8,610) | (10) | % | ||||||||||
| General and administrative | 77,147 | 80,055 | (2,908) | (4) | % | ||||||||||
| Total operating expenses | 255,847 | 282,698 | (26,851) | (9) | % | ||||||||||
| Loss from operations | (116,122) | (169,748) | 53,626 | (32) | % | ||||||||||
| Interest income | 10,257 | 15,414 | (5,157) | (33) | % | ||||||||||
| Change in fair value of warrant liabilities | (15,116) | 13,709 | (28,825) | (210) | % | ||||||||||
| Other income (expense), net | 245 | 931 | (686) | (74) | % | ||||||||||
| Total other income (expense), net | (4,614) | 30,054 | (34,668) | (115) | % | ||||||||||
| Loss before provision for income taxes | (120,736) | (139,694) | 18,958 | (14) | % | ||||||||||
| Provision for income taxes | 2,460 | 815 | 1,645 | 202 | % | ||||||||||
| Net loss | $ | (123,196) | $ | (140,509) | $ | 17,313 | (12) | % |
Revenue
Revenue increased $23.7 million, or 11%, to $244.4 million for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2025, from $220.7 million for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2024. The increase was primarily due to a $16.2 million increase from new customer growth and $7.5 million from net expansion of existing customer contracts. The increase in revenue was primarily driven by growth in the Civil Government and Defense and Intelligence verticals.
Cost of Revenue
Cost of revenue decreased $3.1 million, or 3%, to $104.6 million for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2025, from $107.7 million for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2024. The decrease was driven by a $7.0 million decrease in depreciation expense primarily due to a $4.8 million decrease resulting from changes in estimated useful lives of certain high resolution satellites during the fiscal year ended January 31, 2024 (as further discussed below) and a $1.3 million decrease resulting from a high resolution satellite that moved to experimental status during the fiscal year ended January 31, 2024, which resulted in depreciation expense for the satellite to be classified prospectively as research and development expense. The decrease was also partially due to a $2.4 million decrease in employee-related costs, primarily due to reduced headcount, and a $1.3 million decrease in hosting costs. These decreases were partially offset by a $5.0 million increase in costs paid to solution partners and subcontractors and a $2.3 million increase in amortization expense.
During the fiscal year ended January 31, 2024, additional information specific to certain high resolution satellites became available indicating that the useful lives of these satellites will be less than originally estimated. The changes in estimated useful lives for these satellites were accounted for prospectively, resulting in an increase of depreciation expense of $7.0 million for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2024.
Research and Development
Research and development expenses decreased $15.3 million, or 13%, to $101.0 million for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2025, from $116.3 million for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2024. The decrease was primarily due to a $10.4 million decrease in purchases of material utilized for research and development activities, a $8.1 million
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decrease in employee-related costs, primarily due to reduced headcount, a $7.2 million decrease in stock-based compensation expense, which was primarily due to forfeiture of awards in connection with certain employee departures and due to a decline in expense related to earnout shares. The decrease was also partially due to a $1.9 million decrease in non-recurring expense related to transaction bonuses paid to Sinergise employees in the prior year, which was allocated from the purchase consideration we paid in connection with the Sinergise acquisition, and a $1.0 million decrease in contractor costs used to support various research and development initiatives. These decreases were partially offset by a $7.3 million decrease in funding recognized for our research and development arrangements, a $3.0 million increase in depreciation expense associated with satellites classified as experimental, and a $2.6 million increase in launch provider costs primarily due to the launch of a satellite classified as experimental.
Sales and Marketing
Sales and marketing expenses decreased $8.6 million, or 10%, to $77.7 million, for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2025, from $86.3 million for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2024. The decrease was primarily due to a $6.5 million decrease in employee-related costs due to reduced headcount. The decrease was also partially due to a $1.5 million decrease in stock-based compensation expense, a $1.3 million decrease in sales commissions expense, a $0.9 million decrease in employee travel and entertainment costs, and a $0.8 million decrease in marketing expenses driven by decreased events. These decreases were partially offset by a $2.6 million increase in severance and termination benefits charges associated with the headcount reductions.
General and Administrative
General and administrative expenses decreased $2.9 million, or 4%, to $77.1 million for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2025, from $80.1 million for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2024. The decrease was primarily due to a $1.7 million decrease in employee-related costs due to reduced headcount. The decrease was also partially due to a $1.3 million decrease in our allowance for expected credit losses for accounts receivable, a $1.0 million decrease in insurance costs, and a $0.8 million decrease in consulting costs. These decreases were partially offset by a $1.6 million increase in expense associated with the revaluation of the contingent consideration liability for the Sinergise acquisition customer consent escrow and a $0.6 million increase in legal expenses.
Interest Income
Interest income decreased $5.2 million, to $10.3 million for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2025, from $15.4 million for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2024. The decrease was primarily due to a decrease in our short-term investment balances.
Change in Fair Value of Warrant Liabilities
The change in fair value of warrant liabilities for the fiscal years ended January 31, 2025 and January 31, 2024 represents the change in fair value of the public and private placement warrants, which primarily fluctuates based on the change in trading price of our Class A common stock.
Other Income (Expense), net
Other income (expense), net of $0.2 million for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2025 includes the derecognition of a $1.3 million liability for which settlement is not considered probable, partially offset by $0.8 million of interest expense associated with a customer contract that contains a significant financing component. Other income (expense), net of $0.9 million for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2024 includes the recognition of an insurance claim recovery of $0.8 million associated with a high resolution satellite.
Provision for Income Taxes
Provision for income taxes increased $1.6 million, to $2.5 million for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2025, from $0.8 million for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2024. For the fiscal years ended January 31, 2025 and 2024, the income tax expense was primarily driven by the current tax on foreign earnings. The effective tax rate for the fiscal years ended January 31, 2025 and 2024 differed from the federal statutory tax rate primarily due to the valuation allowance on the majority of our U.S. and foreign deferred tax assets and foreign rate differences.
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Non-GAAP Information
This Form 10-K includes Non-GAAP Gross Profit, Non-GAAP Gross Margin, Adjusted EBITDA and Backlog, which are non-GAAP measures that we use to supplement our results presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. We include these non-GAAP financial measures because they are used by management to evaluate our core operating performance and trends and to make strategic decisions regarding the allocation of capital and new investments.
We define and calculate Non-GAAP Gross Profit as gross profit adjusted for stock-based compensation, amortization of acquired intangible assets, restructuring costs, and employee transaction bonuses in connection with the Sinergise business combination. We define Non-GAAP Gross Margin as Non-GAAP Gross Profit divided by revenue.
We define and calculate Adjusted EBITDA as net income (loss) before the impact of interest income and expense, income tax provision and depreciation and amortization, and further adjusted for the following items: stock-based compensation, change in fair value of warrant liabilities, other income (expense), net, restructuring costs, certain litigation expenses, and employee transaction bonuses in connection with the Sinergise business combination.
We present Non-GAAP Gross Profit, Non-GAAP Gross Margin and Adjusted EBITDA because we believe these measures are frequently used by analysts, investors and other interested parties to evaluate companies in our industry and facilitates comparisons on a consistent basis across reporting periods. Further, we believe these measures are helpful in highlighting trends in our operating results because they exclude items that are not indicative of our core operating performance.
We define and calculate Backlog as remaining performance obligations plus the cancelable portion of the contract value for contracts that provide the customer with a right to terminate for convenience without incurring a substantive termination penalty and written orders where funding has not been appropriated. Backlog does not include unexercised contract options. Remaining performance obligations represent the amount of contracted future revenue that has not yet been recognized, which includes both deferred revenue and non-cancelable contracted revenue that will be invoiced and recognized in revenue in future periods. Remaining performance obligations do not include contracts which provide the customer with a right to terminate for convenience without incurring a substantive termination penalty, written orders where funding has not been appropriated and unexercised contract options.
An increasing and meaningful portion of our revenue is generated from contracts with the U.S. government and other government customers. Cancellation provisions, such as termination for convenience clauses, are common in contracts with the U.S. government and certain other government customers. We present Backlog because the portion of our customer contracts with such cancellation provisions represents a meaningful amount of our expected future revenues. Management uses backlog to more effectively forecast our future business and results, which supports decisions around capital allocation. It also helps us identify future growth or operating trends that may not otherwise be apparent. We also believe Backlog is useful for investors in forecasting our future results and understanding the growth of our business. Customer cancellation provisions relating to termination for convenience clauses and funding appropriation requirements are outside of our control, and as a result, we may fail to realize the full value of such contracts.
Non-GAAP financial measures have limitations as analytical tools and should not be considered in isolation from, as a substitute for, or superior to, measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP. The non-GAAP financial measures presented are not based on any standardized methodology prescribed by U.S. GAAP and are not necessarily comparable to similarly-titled measures presented by other companies, which may have different definitions from ours. Further, certain of the non-GAAP financial measures presented exclude stock-based compensation expenses, which has recently been, and will continue to be for the foreseeable future, a significant recurring expense for our business and an important part of our compensation strategy.
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Non-GAAP Gross Profit and Non-GAAP Gross Margin
The table below reconciles Non-GAAP Gross Profit and Non-GAAP Gross Margin to Gross Profit and Gross Margin (the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP measure), for the periods indicated:
| Year Ended January 31, | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (in thousands, except percentages) | 2025 | 2024 | ||||
| Gross Profit | $ | 139,725 | $ | 112,950 | ||
| Stock-based compensation | 3,467 | 3,636 | ||||
| Amortization of acquired intangible assets | 3,003 | 2,460 | ||||
| Restructuring costs (1) | 1,322 | 564 | ||||
| Employee transaction bonuses in connection with theSinergise business combination (2) | — | 267 | ||||
| Non-GAAP Gross Profit | $ | 147,517 | $ | 119,877 | ||
| Gross Margin | 57 | % | 51 | % | ||
| Non-GAAP Gross Margin | 60 | % | 54 | % |
(1) As part of the 2024 headcount reduction, we recognized $1.3 million of severance and other employee-related costs within cost of revenue for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2025. For the fiscal year ended January 31, 2025, the restructuring related stock-based compensation benefit recognized within cost of revenue of $0.2 million is included on its respective line item. As part of the 2023 headcount reduction, we recognized $0.6 million of severance and other employee-related costs within cost of revenue for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2024. For the fiscal year ended January 31, 2024, the restructuring related stock-based compensation benefit recognized within cost of revenue of $0.1 million is included on its respective line item. Refer to Note 7 “Restructuring” to our consolidated financial statements in Item 8 of this Form 10-K.
(2) Certain employees of Sinergise, which became employees of Planet, were paid cash transaction bonuses in connection with the closing of the Sinergise acquisition. The cost of the transaction bonuses was allocated to cost of revenue from the purchase consideration we paid for the acquisition. Refer to Note 5 “Acquisitions” to our consolidated financial statements in Item 8 of this Form 10-K.
Adjusted EBITDA
The table below reconciles Adjusted EBITDA to net loss (the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP measure), for the periods indicated:
| Year Ended January 31, | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (in thousands) | 2025 | 2024 | |||||
| Net loss | $ | (123,196) | $ | (140,509) | |||
| Interest income | (10,257) | (15,414) | |||||
| Income tax provision | 2,460 | 815 | |||||
| Depreciation and amortization | 45,637 | 47,639 | |||||
| Change in fair value of warrant liabilities | 15,116 | (13,709) | |||||
| Stock-based compensation | 48,485 | 57,132 | |||||
| Restructuring costs (1) | 10,574 | 7,376 | |||||
| Employee transaction bonuses in connection with theSinergise business combination (2) | — | 2,317 | |||||
| Certain litigation expenses (3) | 799 | — | |||||
| Other income, net | (245) | (931) | |||||
| Adjusted EBITDA | $ | (10,627) | $ | (55,284) |
(1) As part of the 2024 headcount reduction, we recognized $10.6 million of severance and other employee-related costs for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2025. For the fiscal year ended January 31, 2025, the restructuring related stock-based compensation benefit recognized of $1.4 million is included on its respective line item. As part of the 2023 headcount reduction, we recognized $7.4 million of severance and other employee-related costs for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2024. For the fiscal year ended January 31, 2024, the restructuring related stock-based compensation benefit recognized of $1.5 million is
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included on its respective line item. Refer to Note 7 “Restructuring” to our consolidated financial statements in Item 8 of this Form 10-K.
(2) Certain employees of Sinergise, which became employees of Planet, were paid cash transaction bonuses in connection with the closing of the Sinergise acquisition. The cost of the transaction bonuses was allocated to operating expense from the purchase consideration we paid for the acquisition. Refer to Note 5 “Acquisitions” to our consolidated financial statements in Item 8 of this Form 10-K.
(3) Expenses relating to the Delaware class action lawsuit. Refer to Note 10 “Commitments and Contingencies” to our consolidated financial statements in Item 8 of this Form 10-K.
There are a number of limitations related to the use of Adjusted EBITDA, including:
•Adjusted EBITDA excludes stock-based compensation, which has recently been, and will continue to be for the foreseeable future, a significant recurring expense for our business and an important part of our compensation strategy;
•Adjusted EBITDA excludes depreciation and amortization expense and, although these are non-cash expenses, the assets being depreciated and amortized will have to be replaced in the future;
•Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect interest expense, or the cash requirements necessary to service interest or principal payments on debt, which reduces cash available to us;
•Adjusted EBITDA does not include severance expense in conjunction with restructuring events, which reduces cash available to us;
•Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect certain litigation expenses, consisting of legal fees for a specific proceeding, which reduces cash available to us;
•Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect income tax expense that reduces cash available to us; and
•the expenses and other items that we exclude in our calculation of Adjusted EBITDA may differ from the expenses and other items, if any, that other companies may exclude from similar measures when they report their operating results.
Backlog
The table below reconciles Backlog to remaining performance obligations for the periods indicated:
| Year Ended January 31, | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (in thousands) | 2025 | 2024 | ||||
| Remaining performance obligations | $ | 412,829 | $ | 132,571 | ||
| Cancelable amount of contract value | 90,920 | 109,821 | ||||
| Backlog | $ | 503,749 | $ | 242,392 |
For remaining performance obligations as of January 31, 2025, the Company expects to recognize approximately 37% over the next 12 months, approximately 70% over the next 24 months, and the remainder thereafter. For Backlog as of January 31, 2025, the Company expects to recognize approximately 38% over the next 12 months, approximately 70% over the next 24 months, and the remainder thereafter.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Since inception, we have incurred net losses and negative cash flows from operations. Our operations have historically been primarily funded by the net proceeds from the sale of our equity securities and borrowings under credit facilities, as well as cash received from our customers. We currently have no debt outstanding.
We measure liquidity in terms of our ability to fund the cash requirements of our business operations, including working capital and capital expenditure needs, contractual obligations, including debt obligations, and other commitments, with cash flows from operations and other sources of funding. Our current working capital needs relate mainly to our continued development of our platform and product offerings in new markets, as well as compensation and benefits of our employees. Our ability to expand and grow our business will depend on many factors, including our working capital needs and the evolution of our operating cash flows.
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As of January 31, 2025, and 2024, we had $118.0 million and $83.9 million, respectively, in cash and cash equivalents. Additionally, as of January 31, 2025, and 2024, we had short-term investments of $104.0 million and $215.0 million, respectively, which are highly liquid in nature and available for current operations. We believe our anticipated operating cash flows together with our cash on hand provide us with the ability to meet our obligations as they become due during the next 12 months.
We expect our capital expenditures and working capital requirements to continue to increase in the foreseeable future as we seek to grow our business. We could also need additional cash resources due to significant acquisitions, an accelerated manufacturing timeline for new satellites, competitive pressures or regulatory requirements. We may need to seek additional equity, equity-linked or debt financing. The issuance of additional shares may create additional dilution to our stockholders. The incurrence of debt financing would result in debt service obligations and the instruments governing such debt could provide for operating or financial covenants that would restrict our operations. We cannot assure you that any such financing will be available on favorable terms, or at all. If needed financing is not available, or if the terms of financing are less desirable than we expect, we may be forced to decrease our level of investment in software and market expansion efforts or to scale back our existing operations, which could have an adverse impact on our business and financial prospects.
As of January 31, 2025, our principal contractual obligations and commitments include lease obligations for real estate and ground stations and minimum purchase commitments for hosting services from Google, LLC. Refer to Notes 8, 10, and 13 to our consolidated financial statements in Part 8 of this Form 10-K for more information regarding these cash requirements.
We do not engage in any off-balance sheet activities or have any arrangements or relationships with unconsolidated entities, such as variable interest, special purpose, and structured finance entities.
Statement of Cash Flows
The following tables present a summary of cash flows from operating, investing and financing activities for the following comparative periods. For additional detail, refer to the consolidated statements of cash flows as presented within the consolidated financial statements.
| Year Ended January 31, | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (in thousands) | 2025 | 2024 | |||||
| Net cash provided by (used in) | |||||||
| Operating activities | $ | (14,374) | $ | (50,711) | |||
| Investing activities | $ | 57,906 | $ | (33,586) | |||
| Financing activities | $ | (15,535) | $ | (1,598) |
Net cash used in operating activities
Net cash used in operating activities for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2025, primarily consisted of the net loss of $123.2 million, adjusted for non-cash items and changes in operating assets and liabilities. Non-cash items primarily included stock-based compensation expense of $48.5 million, depreciation and amortization expense of $45.6 million, and a change in fair value of warrant liabilities of $15.1 million. The net change in operating assets and liabilities primarily consisted of a $13.3 million decrease in accounts payable, accrued and other liabilities and a $12.0 million increase in accounts receivable, which were partially offset by a $15.6 million increase in deferred revenue and a $8.4 million decrease in prepaid expenses and other assets.
Net cash used in operating activities for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2024, primarily consisted of the net loss of $140.5 million, adjusted for non-cash items and changes in operating assets and liabilities. Non-cash items primarily included depreciation and amortization expense of $47.6 million and stock-based compensation expense of $57.1 million, which were partially offset by a change in fair value of warrant liabilities of $13.7 million. The net change in operating assets and liabilities primarily consisted of a $25.0 million decrease in accounts payable, accrued and other liabilities and a $2.7 million increase in accounts receivable, which were partially offset by a $22.2 million increase in deferred revenue and a $10.5 million decrease in prepaid expenses and other assets.
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Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities
Net cash provided by investing activities for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2025, consisted of sales of available-for-sale securities of $192.5 million and maturities of available-for-sale securities of $61.4 million, partially offset by purchases of available-for-sale securities of $140.2 million, purchases of property and equipment of $44.3 million, and capitalized internal-use software costs of $5.3 million. Cash used in investing activities also included $4.8 million for the purchase of licensed imagery.
Net cash used in investing activities for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2024, consisted of purchases of available-for-sale securities of $189.1 million, purchases of property and equipment of $38.0 million, and capitalized internal-use software costs of $4.4 million, partially offset by maturities of available-for-sale securities of $161.3 million and sales of available-for-sale securities of $45.6 million. Cash used in investing activities also included $7.5 million for the acquisition of Sinergise in August 2023.
Net cash used in financing activities
Net cash used in financing activities for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2025, primarily consisted of payments for withholding taxes related to the net share settlement of equity awards of $11.9 million and payments of contingent consideration for business acquisitions of $8.8 million, which was partially offset by proceeds from the exercise of common stock options of $4.4 million.
Net cash used in financing activities for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2024, primarily consisted of payments for withholding taxes related to the net share settlement of equity awards of $9.0 million, which was partially offset by proceeds from the exercise of common stock options of $7.4 million.
Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
Our discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations are based upon our consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP. The preparation of our consolidated financial statements and related disclosures requires us to make estimates, assumptions and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenues, costs and expenses and related disclosures. The accounting policies described below have been identified as critical to our business operations and to understanding the results of our operations. Accordingly, we evaluate our estimates and assumptions on an ongoing basis. Our actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions and conditions.
Revenue Recognition
We derive our revenue principally from licensing rights to use imagery that is delivered digitally through our online platform in addition to providing related services. Imagery licensing agreements vary by contract, however, generally they have annual or multi-year contractual terms. The licenses are generally purchased on a subscription basis, whereby a customer pays for access to our imagery that may be downloaded over a specific period of time, or, on a transactional basis, whereby the customer pays for individual content licenses at the time of download. Our imagery licensing agreements and service agreements are often non-cancelable and do not contain refund-type provisions.
The recognition and measurement of revenue requires the use of judgments and estimates. Specifically, judgment is used in identifying the performance obligations and the standalone selling price (“SSP”) of the performance obligations.
At contract inception, we assess the product offerings in our contracts to identify performance obligations that are distinct. A performance obligation is distinct when it is separately identifiable from other items in a bundled package and if a customer can benefit from it on its own or with other resources that are readily available to the customer. To identify the performance obligations, we consider all of the product offerings promised in the contract.
When our contracts with customers contain more than a single performance obligation, management allocates the total contract consideration to each performance obligation on a relative SSP basis. The SSP is the price at which we would sell a promised product or service separately to a customer. Judgment is required to determine the SSP for each distinct performance obligation. We determine the SSP by considering our overall pricing practices and market conditions, including our discounting practices, the size and volume of our transactions, the customer demographic, price lists, historical sales, contract prices and customer relationships.
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Data licensing arrangements generally provide customers with the right to access imagery through our platform, download content on a limited or unlimited basis over the contractual period depending on the terms of the applicable contract, or provide both the right to access imagery and download content. We have determined that access to imagery through our online platform and the ability to download such imagery represent two separate performance obligations. As such, a portion of the total contract consideration related to access to continuously updated imagery content is recognized ratably on a straight-line basis over the term of the contract.
At contract inception, existing or archived imagery is available for download by the customer. The existing or archived imagery has significant standalone functionality and is not updated once licensed to a particular customer. As such, the portion of the contract consideration related to the download license of existing or archive imagery content, which is generally not significant, is recognized as revenue at the commencement of the contract when control of the imagery is transferred, and the imagery is available for download by the customer. The portion of the contractual consideration related to the download of monitoring imagery content is recognized over the term of the contract utilizing a usage-based output measure of progress based on the download capacity specified in the contract. To the extent the number of downloads of the specified imagery content is unlimited, the contractual consideration related to downloads is recognized ratably on a straight-line basis over the term of the contract.
The transaction price is the total amount of consideration that we expect to be entitled to in exchange for the product offerings in a contract. The prices of imagery licensing and other services are generally fixed at contract inception and therefore, our contracts do not contain a significant amount of variable consideration.
Property and Equipment and Long-lived Assets
Property and equipment are stated at cost, net of accumulated depreciation and amortization. Repair and maintenance costs are expensed as incurred. Significant improvements that extend the useful life or add functionality to property and equipment are capitalized. Depreciation is computed once an asset is placed in service using the straight-line method over the estimated useful life of the asset.
Costs directly associated with design, construction, launch, and commissioning of satellites and systems are capitalized when the design of the satellites and systems is at a sufficiently advanced stage such that we believe the recovery of the costs through future cash inflows to be probable. We capitalize materials, labor and launch costs (including integration and launch insurance costs) that are incurred and necessary for the satellites to be placed into service. We depreciate the cost of a satellite over its estimated useful life, using a straight-line method of depreciation, once it is placed into service, which is when we determine that the satellites are providing imagery that meets the required quality specifications for sale to our customers.
The estimated useful life over which we depreciate a satellite is determined once the satellite has been placed into service. The initial determination of the satellite’s useful life involves the consideration of multiple factors, including design life, random part failure probabilities, expected component degradation and cycle life, fuel consumption (where applicable), and experience with satellite parts, vendors and similar assets.
At least annually, or more frequently, should facts and circumstances indicate a need, we perform an assessment of the remaining useful lives of our property and equipment including our satellites. The assessment for satellites evaluates satellite usage data, remaining fuel (where applicable), operational stresses and other factors that may impact the satellite’s expected useful life.
During the fiscal year ended January 31, 2024, additional information specific to certain high resolution satellites became available indicating that the useful lives of these satellites will be less than originally estimated. The changes in estimated useful lives for these satellites were accounted for prospectively, resulting in an increase of depreciation expense of $7.0 million for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2024.
The carrying amount of long-lived assets to be held and used in the business are reviewed for impairment annually or whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount may not be recoverable. Impairment indicators include, among other conditions, cash flow deficits, historic or anticipated declines in revenue or operating profit or material adverse changes in the business climate that indicate that the carrying amount of an asset may be impaired. When impairment indicators are present, the recoverability of the asset is measured by comparing the carrying value of the asset to the estimated undiscounted future cash flows expected to be generated by the asset. This evaluation is performed at the lowest level for which identifiable cash flows are largely independent of the cash flows of other assets and liabilities, or an asset group. If the carrying amount of the asset or
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asset group is not recoverable, the impairment to be recognized is measured by the amount by which the carrying amount of each long-lived asset or asset group exceeds the fair value of the asset or asset group.
There were no material impairment charges recorded for long-lived assets during the fiscal years ended January 31, 2025, 2024 and 2023.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
Refer to Note 2 to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Form 10-K for information regarding recently issued accounting pronouncements.