A BlackSky satellite image collected over Ivankiv, Ukraine on Feb. 28. A Russian military convoy passes through scorched countryside northwest of Kyiv. Photo: BlackSky

BlackSky Technologies nearly doubled revenue in the first quarter of 2022 compared to the same period last year. On Wednesday, the company reported record revenue of $13.9 million in the first quarter, up 91% from the prior year period. BlackSky provides geospatial intelligence and global monitoring via a constellation of 14 satellites and its software platform. 

Imagery and software analytical services revenue was $9.8 million, up 63% from the same time last year, driven by increased demand from new and existing government contracts. This segment represented approximately 70% of total revenues. 

BlackSky more than doubled engineering and systems integration revenue over the first quarter of last year, reporting $4.1 million in revenue, a 218% increase. This was driven by an increase in the percentage completion of certain contracts.

Operating expenses for the first quarter of 2022 were $30.1 million, up $10 million over the first quarter of 2021, due to higher depreciation expense and investments in sales, software, and engineering hires, along with the operating costs of being a public company. 

Net loss was $20 million. BlackSky’s cash balance at the end of March 2022 was $138.4 million. 

CEO Brian O’Toole said during a call with investors on Wednesday that “demand for BlackSky’s real-time imagery and analytic services has never been higher.” BlackSky is seeing increased demand due to the crisis in Ukraine. O’Toole said the company has delivered more than 1,000 images over the past 30 days to national security agencies, humanitarian organizations and the media to support Ukraine. 

However, the largest contributor to growth in the quarter came from outside Eastern Europe, in the Asia Pacific region and in the Middle East, O’Toole said. 

“The international demand that we’re seeing is growing very rapidly. We’re starting to see a lot of incoming [demand] from not only Tier 1 international ministries of defense, governments, but a lot of Tier 2 and Tier 3 countries that are standing up their spatial intelligence and space-based capabilities for various applications within the government,” O’Toole said. “We’re very excited about what’s happening in that sector. We’ve been scaling our sales teams and reseller network to capture that growing demand.” 

BlackSky maintains its current full year 2022 guidance, expecting revenue between $58 million and $62 million. When the company first announced plans to go public in February 2021, it projected $114 million in revenue for 2022.