Herndon’s BlackSky goes public after closing SPAC deal

Herndon- and Seattle-based geospatial intelligence and global monitoring company BlackSky Technology Inc. debuted on the New York Stock Exchange Friday after closing a SPAC merger originally announced in February.

As of 4:09 p.m. Friday, BlackSky shares were trading at $10.98. Prior to Thursday’s merger with Philadelphia-based special purpose acquisition company Osprey Technology Acquisition Corp., BlackSky was known as BlackSky Holdings Inc.

The combined company received about $283 million in gross proceeds, composed of about $103 million in cash held in trust by Osprey and the proceeds of a $180 million private investment in public equity (PIPE). Osprey’s shareholders approved the transaction on Wednesday.

“The Osprey team is very excited for [BlackSky CEO] Brian O’Toole and the BlackSky organization,” Osprey Co-Executive Chairman Jonathan Z. Cohen said in a statement. “We look forward to watching them execute on BlackSky’s strategic growth plan as a public company.”

O’Toole will continue to lead the combined company, and Will Porteous will remain chairman of BlackSky’s board.

“Our team is excited that we have reached this major milestone on our first-to-know mission to lead a new era of real-time global intelligence,” O’Toole said in a statement. “We are looking forward to this next chapter as a public company and the many opportunities that lie ahead in the new space economy.”

David DiDomenico, who heads JANA Partners LLC’s SPAC initiative and serves as president, CEO and a director of Osprey, will serve on the combined company’s board of directors. Magid Abraham, Timothy Harvey and James Tolonen will join BlackSky’s board.

Founded in 2014, BlackSky provides satellite imaging services using its satellite network and provides monitoring via machine learning, artificial intelligence, computer vision and natural language processing.