SpaceX acquires satellite data start-up Swarm Technologies

SpaceX acquires satellite data start-up Swarm Technologies, in rare deal from Elon Musk’s space company that expands the team, and possibly the technological capabilities, of its growing Starlink internet service .

Swarm, which has 120 of its tiny SpaceBEE satellites in orbit, struck a deal with SpaceX on July 16 to merge, according to an Aug. 6 filing with the Federal Communications Commission.

The company will become “a direct wholly owned subsidiary of SpaceX upon completion of the proposed transaction,” Swarm wrote in the filing.

Terms and financial details of the deal were not disclosed. SpaceX and Swarm did not respond to CNBC’s requests for comment. Swarm last completed a fundraiser in January 2019, at a valuation of $ 85 million, according to Pitchbook.

The deal marks a rare acquisition for SpaceX, which tends to design and build systems in-house. But FCC licenses can be difficult and time consuming to obtain, and Swarm will transfer control of all of its satellite and ground station licenses to SpaceX as part of the deal, according to the filing.

“Swarm’s services will benefit from better capitalization and better access to resources available to SpaceX, as well as synergies associated with the acquisition by a provider of satellite design, manufacture and launch services,” said the folder.

The company noted that the acquisition benefits SpaceX by providing “access to intellectual property and expertise developed by the Swarm team.”

Starlink is SpaceX’s capital-intensive project to build an interconnected Internet network with thousands of satellites, known in the space industry as a constellation, designed to provide high-speed Internet to consumers all over the planet. How SpaceX could use Swarm technology is unclear, as Starlink satellites operate differently from SpaceBEEs.

Founded in 2016 and based in Mountain View, California, Swarm has built a constellation of 150 satellites. Its SpaceBEEs are “the smallest commercially operational satellites in space,” according to the company – at 11 centimeters by 11 centimeters by 2.8 centimeters, the satellites are about the size of a small laptop.

Swarm’s satellites communicate with its ground antennas, with a Swarm “tile” that can be integrated into a printed circuit board, to connect Internet of Things, or IoT, devices to a global communications network. A Tile Swarm is priced at $ 119, and its largest standalone “Evaluation Kit” is $ 499, the company charges a $ 5 per month subscription to use the network.

The company provides services for a wide variety of IoT uses, including agriculture, marine, energy, environment, and transportation.

Swarm came under intense scrutiny by the FCC in 2018 after the unauthorized launch of its first four SpaceBEE satellites. The FCC has ended its investigation with Swarm agreeing to pay a $ 900,000 fine and implement a five-year regulatory compliance plan.