Satellite startup BlackSky Holdings Inc., an aerospace company trying to monitor the surface of the earth, plans to open a new office in Albuquerque at the NewSpace New Mexico Launchpad.
The company, which is in the midst of a push to go public, announced the expansion Thursday, shortly after a press event for NewSpace, which received an $11 million grant from the federal government to foster the commercial space industry in New Mexico.
The move is BlackSky's "first foray into establishing a physical presence in Albuquerque" and the company has "several executives and employees who already live in the area," according to a series of statements to Business First from CEO Brian E. O'Toole.
In addition to its new Albuquerque facility, BlackSky also has offices in Seattle and Herndon, Virginia, where its headquarters are.
BlackSky is also seeking to increase its workforce, and is recruiting for engineering, data scientist, cloud developer, programmer and business development positions. Some positions can be performed from multiple locations, though "the actual number of BlackSky employees working onsite will fluctuate depending on activities," according to O'Toole. When asked, the company would not specify what its workers at the NewSpace office would be doing.
"We are currently focused on building out the existing presence. Given the depth of talent and commercial space companies in the area, it is not out of the question that we may consider further expansion in the future," O'Toole's statement reads. The company, founded in 2013, offers its own constellation of satellites that can image a location several times a day, potentially capturing how it changes. Its monitoring service, called Spectra AI, is powered with machine learning, artificial intelligence, computer vision and natural language processing techniques.
BlackSky may eventually become one of a growing number of public companies with a presence in New Mexico. Earlier this year, the company entered into a definitive agreement to merge with Osprey Technology Acquisition Corp. As part of the deal, Osprey, a blank-check company formed with the intent of transacting with one or more software technology companies, will take BlackSky public. The agreement sets the stage for a $450 million infusion into the combined firm, and the merger is expected to have an equity value of almost $1.5 billion, according to the company.
Osprey was established as a collaboration between investment firms HEPCO Capital Management and JANA Partners. David DiDomenico, a partner at JANA, serves as Osprey’s president and CEO.
