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 its revenue in 2022 compared to 2021, reporting its full year financial results on Tuesday. The Earth observation company logged $65.4 million in revenue in 2022, up 92% compared to the prior year. 

Imagery and software analytical services revenue was $47.4 million, up 209% over the prior year period, driven by several new government and international contract awards. One of these is the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) Electro-Optical Commercial Layer (EOCL) contract that started in late May 2022. It is the largest contract BlackSky has ever received and worth up to $1.021 billion over 10 years. 

This follows a strong year of growth in 2021 as well. Last year, BlackSky grew revenue 61% compared to 2020. 

BlackSky’s operating loss is narrowing as well. Operating loss for 2022 was $86.5 million, compared to an operating loss of $120.1 million in 2021. The year-over-year improvement was primarily driven by higher gross profit, a one-time satellite impairment charge in 2021, and a decrease in stock-based compensation expense. 

Net loss was $74 million in 2022 compared to $246 million in 2021. 

BlackSky CEO Brian O’Toole called 2022 a “foundational year” for BlackSky, and said the level of execution puts the company on track to achieve positive adjusted EBITDA in the fourth quarter of 2023. 

“Increased customer demand worldwide for BlackSky’s dynamic monitoring and analytic solutions drove record revenues in the fourth quarter growing 69% year-over-year to $19.4 million. In addition, we’ve successfully scaled our operations and are now delivering thousands of high-resolution images reliably each day with AI-driven analytics to customers around the world,” O’Toole said. 

This was in line with the upper end of BlackSky’s guidance, after the company raised guidance for the year after the second quarter. However, it is not in line with what the $114 million in revenue the company originally projected when it announced plans to go public in 2021. 

BlackSky also released a full year outlook for 2023, expecting revenue to be between $90 million and $96 million, a 42% increase over 2022 revenue at the mid-point of this range. 

Separately, BlackSky also announced a $150 million-plus competitive contract to provide tactical GEOINT-as-a-service to an international ministry of defense customer, and a $29.5 million private placement financing.