Filed Pursuant to Rule 425
Under the Securities Act of 1933
And Deemed Filed Pursuant to Rule 14a-6
Under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
Filer: Osprey Technology Acquisition Corp.
Commission File No.: 001-39113
Subject Company: Osprey Technology Acquisition Corp.
This filing relates to the proposed merger involving Osprey Technology Acquisition Corp. with BlackSky Holdings, Inc., pursuant to the terms of that certain Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of February 17, 2021, by and among Osprey Technology Acquisition Corp. (Osprey), Osprey Technology Merger Sub, Inc. and BlackSky Holdings, Inc. (BlackSky).
The following article was published on April 9, 2021:
BlackSky CEO on SPAC: Weve Been Preparing for This Moment for 7 Years
By Rachel Jewett | April 9, 2021
BlackSky Holdings owns and operates its own satellites for geospatial imagery collection, but CEO Brian OToole sees the company as more of a software company. Its satellite imagery is brought into its Spectra AI platform, which analyzes the imagery and other types of data to deliver insights to customers.
In a recent interview with Via Satellite, OToole spoke about how the capability of BlackSkys software will drive the growth BlackSky is targeting as a public company. In 2020, BlackSky reported $22 million in revenue. With its recent announcement to go public through a special purpose acquisition corporation (SPAC), BlackSky is targeting $546 million in 2025.
Here, OToole talks about why the company chose the SPAC route, and how he sees BlackSky as a software company with the competitive advantage of space data.
VIA SATELLITE: Why did BlackSky go the SPAC route, and why was this the right time for BlackSky?
OToole: Being a fully funded space company is significant for both a customer and a market opportunity perspective. For customers, it ensures that we have the capital to deliver the capabilities that theyre counting on, in a clear timeline. It provides a higher level of certainty that we will be there to meet the demand. From a business perspective, it means we can move quicker and more efficiently to go after the large and growing market opportunity for real-time geospatial intelligence.
VIA SATELLITE: Looking at your growth projections, you have aggressive targets that youre hoping to hit doubling revenue every year for the next few years. How will funding from being public enable you to realize that growth?
OToole: Weve been building the company for a long time. Weve got satellites in orbit, manufacturing capability in place at LeoStella, and a number of marquee customers that have validated our service. Its evidenced by our growing customer base and the strength of our sales pipeline. This gives us a clear line of sight to achieve this forecast.
The transaction funds our growth from three different perspectives. Were able to expand our constellation and move deployment of Gen 2, but also invest in Gen 3, to get to a 30-satellite capability 50-centimeter resolution [constellation]. And investment in software more sensors, more AI [Artificial Intelligence] and Machine Learning algorithms, which improves accessibility for our partners and developers. Then, building our go-to-market capabilities and sales and marketing to go after the commercial sector. Weve been preparing for this moment for seven years and we have a lot of confidence in our growth plan.
VIA SATELLITE: How do you see the total addressable market for geospatial intelligence growing over the next five years?
OToole: Theres two dimensions to the market opportunity. Theres the government sector were focused on that initially. Were seeing the shift toward near real-time Earth Observation capabilities, both in the U.S. government and internationally, Weve already got existing contracts and customer relationships, so thats a well-defined market for us. We see that market shifting from buying raw data, to buying the analytics and insights that go along with it. We have positioned ourselves to provide that. Our constellation, which is focused on high revisit imaging with rapid delivery available on demand, is suited for the types of missions that those customers want.
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On the commercial side, theres a lot of growth thats been forecasted, particularly as the markets move toward more real-time capabilities. Up until now, thats been challenged by affordability, accessibility through software, and having the assured capacity of high frequency collection. I think were well-positioned in both markets, particularly addressing the move toward real time.
VIA SATELLITE: Would you say that one of those markets has more demand than the other?
OToole: I wouldnt say theres more demand in one market or the other. The government market is more mature in buying this type of capability. Thats a logical place for us to start and build our business. For commercial, we have a lot of incoming interest, Ive seen that over the years. Frequency, affordability, and access had been the limiting elements to accelerating and going after that larger market opportunity. With the recent Rocket Lab announcement and moving forward our deployment of our constellation, were well on a path to deliver one-hour revisit capability and 90-minute delivery timelines, which are needed for a lot of commercial business intelligence.
VIA SATELLITE: Your investor presentation mentioned launching commercial vertical pilots. What might that look like?
OToole: Were working on a number of those right now in different sectors that extend everywhere from energy, insurance, mining, and supply chain. Well start piloting and putting teams in place to start working on those channels to market this year.
The great thing about our software is that different customers are going to have requirements for different types of information and insights. For example, some customers want us to deliver a monitoring solution with alerts and notifications on changes that matter to them as a subscription. Others want an on-demand ability to go see whats happening on the ground. Weve tried not to build a one-size-fits all platform. We are building a developer environment where were making these services available to solution providers and developers, which is going to enable us to scale the business. Well put in place a number of last-mile partners that will help build applications that we havent even thought of yet, across a lot of different markets. We see that as a tremendous opportunity.
VIA SATELLITE: Would these be last-mile software partners?
OToole: There could be companies that are already providing software and analytics solutions say, in commercial real estate where we can add value. We want to provide them with additional information and insights and make those products better. We dont need to be in the business of standing up custom solutions in every market. We want to move toward a model where developers and partners are driving a lot of that.
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VIA SATELLITE: What about expanding into other sensor sets? What would that look like?
OToole: We are already expanding with lots of different sensors in our platform. We support SAR [Synthetic Aperture Radar], weve integrated with companies like Hawkeye 360 that provide signals, and were integrating news, social media, and business intelligence feeds. We will continue to do that.
It really goes to what our customers want. They want real-time geospatial intelligence. Its about being the first to know. In order to do that, you need to integrate data from lots of sources, apply AI and Machine Learning algorithms that translate that into insights, and make that of all available through a wide range of applications, web services, and developer APIs. This has been part of our strategy from the very beginning. Weve been building the software architecture to do this in real time, focusing on automated processing and massive scalability.
The software gives us the ability to build a database and related data products and services that are accessible. That means we can collect once with ours and many other sensors, and sell many times. Thats where the scalability comes in. Software allows us to do that, beyond what just having a satellite constellation can do. I would say were more of a software and data analytics company that happens to own satellites, then we are a space company.
VIA SATELLITE: Seeing BlackSky as more of a software company is reflected in your benchmarking. You are benchmarking against companies like Palantir and Data Dog. How did you make the decision to compare BlackSky against those companies?
OToole: Were more of a software and data analytics company, and those peers have different business models around Software-as-a-Service and data analytics that are more in line with our strategy. Were using space as a competitive advantage to get unique insights around whats going on in the world. But ultimately, our DNA is in software and data analytics.
VIA SATELLITE: I talked to a number of analysts about the wave of SPACs in space, and some were skeptical on the valuations. What would you say to someone who thinks that BlackSky is overvalued at 1.1 billion?
OToole: Were not a recent space startup. Theres significant capability in terms of software, space, global ground architecture, traction with customers and validation both by customers and in the business model that weve set out as a company. Our growth, as outlined in the investor deck, is founded on a clear revenue plan thats backed up by customers and the line of sight we have. Were in a different category than a number of new startups.
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VIA SATELLITE: Are you considering acquisitions in your growth strategy?
OToole: Were focused on whats in front of us. Getting our constellation up there, expanding the software, going to market. As opportunities come available, well take a look at them. Obviously they would need to fit into our strategy around delivering real-time geospatial intelligence.
VIA SATELLITE: Do you have any concerns about targeting aggressive growth while under the scrutiny of being a public company?
OToole: Whether youre a public company or private company, you still need to deliver for your shareholders and your customers. We operate very transparently in terms of our strategy of our satellite constellation combined with our software platform, driven by AI and Machine Learning. Weve been really clear about those milestones and so I dont see that changing much.
When you weigh the benefits in terms of capital, awareness, and operating leverage that well get from being a public company especially at our stage, and how were positioned for growth the benefits far outweigh the risk. We see a significant market opportunity and being fully funded enables us to efficiently go after it, and not have the management team distracted by continually raising capital.
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