Spire Global to Acquire AIS Provider ExactEarth

Photo: Spire Global.

Spire Global is making its first acquisition after going public, with an agreement to acquire exactEarth for $161.2 million. ExactEarth provides satellite-AIS data services, which is used to track ships. The deal was announced on Tuesday.

Spire Global also provides satellite-AIS data services, and said this acquisition will add more than 150 customers and grow its customer base by more than 75%. ExactEarth also has a 10-year archive of AIS data, which will increase Spire’s historical maritime (AIS) data set.

ExactEarth also has a minority indirect ownership stake in Australian satellite Internet of Things (IoT) provider Myriota.

ExactEarth is on a growth trend, and its revenue year to date is up 30% compared to last year. The company released third quarter financial results on Tuesday, reporting $17.3 million in revenue year to date. In addition, subscription services revenue year to date stands at $15.3 million, up 26% compared to $12.2 million in the same period last year.

The total transaction is approximately $103.4 million in cash and $57.8 million in Spire’s stock. ExactEarth shareholders will vote on the deal in November, and it is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2021 or first quarter of 2022. Once completed, exactEarth will become a fully owned subsidiary of Spire and continue to operate from Cambridge, Ontario, in Canada under the leadership of CEO Peter Mabson, who will report to Spire CEO Peter Platzer.

“Peter and I share a vision about the opportunity for space-based maritime data and the digitalization of the global maritime industry, and I look forward to pursuing that vision together,” said Peter Platzer, Spire’s CEO. “I have great respect for the highly experienced team at exactEarth and am excited to continue driving this digital transformation together, serving more customers with a more robust data and solutions platform.”