BlackSky Technology Inc.: Form 10-Q for the period ended Jun 30, 2024

The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes appearing elsewhere in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. As discussed in the section titled “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements,” the following discussion and analysis contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, as well as assumptions that, if they never materialize or prove incorrect, could cause our results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to these differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed in the section titled “Risk Factors” under Part I, Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023 and filed with the SEC. Unless the context otherwise requires, references in this “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” to “BlackSky,” “the Company,” “we,” “us” and “our” refer to the business and operations of BlackSky Holdings, Inc. (“Legacy BlackSky”) and its consolidated subsidiaries prior to the completion of its merger on September 9, 2021 with a wholly-owned subsidiary of Osprey Technology Acquisition Corp. (the “Merger”) and of BlackSky Technology Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries, following the closing of the Merger.

Company Overview

We own and operate one of the industry's leading high-performance low earth orbit small satellite constellations. Our constellation is optimized to cost-efficiently capture imagery at high revisit rates where and when our customers need it. The orbital configuration of our constellation is designed to collect data on the most critical and strategic locations in the world. Our constellation is able to image certain locations approximately every 90 minutes, from dawn to dusk, providing our customers with insights and situational awareness throughout the day. Our satellites are designed with agile pointing capabilities that enable our customers to task our constellation on demand to collect specific locations of interest. The constellation is optimized for agility and capacity and delivers high revisit imaging and analytic products without a dependency on an individual satellite. This approach enables us to strategically deploy capacity to meet customer needs and tailor the capability over time to meet market demand. Our tasking methodology employs proprietary artificial intelligence (“AI”)-enabled software to efficiently collect images of the most important strategic and economic assets and areas of interest to our customers. We believe that our focus on critical strategic and economic infrastructure and the AI-enabled tasking of our constellation differentiates us from many of our competitors, who are primarily dedicated to mapping the entirety of the Earth on a routine basis. Our differentiated approach to space enables us to deliver highly targeted and valuable intelligence with a smaller constellation fleet that has the added benefit of greater operating and capital efficiencies.

Our BlackSky Spectra software platform can, among other things, process millions of observations a day from our proprietary satellite constellation and from multiple external data sources including imaging, radar and radio frequency satellites, environmental sensors, asset tracking sensors, Internet-of-Things connected devices, internet-enabled narrative sources, and a variety of geotemporal data feeds. BlackSky Spectra employs advanced, proprietary AI and machine learning (“ML”) techniques to process, analyze, and transform these data feeds into alerts, information, and insights that our customers receive, all fully automated. Customers can access BlackSky Spectra's data and analytics through easy-to-use web services or through platform application programming interfaces.

Our next generation satellites (“Gen-3”), expected to launch in the fourth quarter of 2024, are designed to improve imaging resolution even further and include short wave infrared imaging technology for a broad set of imaging conditions, including nighttime and low-light. We believe these advancements will expand the relevance and certainty of our analytics to continue to ensure our importance to our customers. We also believe the combination of our high-revisit, small satellite constellation, our BlackSky Spectra platform, and low constellation cost is transforming the market for real-time, space-based imagery and analytics.

Our operating strategy is to continue to enhance the capabilities of our satellite constellation, to increase the number of third-party data sources processed by our BlackSky Spectra platform, and to expand our analytics offerings in order to increase the value we deliver to our customers. Our two strategic assets—our satellite constellation and our BlackSky Spectra platform—are mutually reinforcing: as we capture more information about the world’s most important strategic and economic assets and locations, our proprietary database expands and increases its utility, enabling us to better detect, understand, and predict changes that matter most to our customers.

Our business has a natural and powerful “flywheel” effect: the more data we collect and analyze, the more valuable the insights we can deliver to our customers.

Our current customer base and end market mix are weighted towards U.S. and international defense and intelligence customers and markets. We believe there are significant opportunities to expand our imagery and software analytical services, as well as our professional and engineering service offerings, to a broad set of customers both domestically and internationally. In addition, our services and products can benefit customers in a variety of commercial markets including, but not limited to, energy and utilities, insurance, commodities, mining, manufacturing, logistics, supply chain management, agriculture, environmental monitoring, disaster and risk management, engineering and construction, and retail and consumer behavior.

We generate revenue by selling On-Demand and Assured product and service offerings that support a broad range of applications including national security, supply chain intelligence, crisis management, critical infrastructure monitoring, economic intelligence, and others. These offerings are comprised of a predefined, standard set of imagery and software analytics products accessible via our basic subscription plan through our BlackSky Spectra software platform, plus professional and engineering services provided to customers on a project-by-project basis. We offer a variety of pricing and utilization options for our imagery and software analytical service offerings, with the majority of our agreements structured as subscription contracts, followed by usage-based pricing and transactional licenses. These options provide customers flexibility to utilize our imagery and software analytical services in a manner that best suits their business needs. We offer a range of pricing tiers that enables the customer to manage collection priorities, when during critical events they can pay a premium to prioritize their monitoring and collection requirements. At other times, customers can select lower priority collections to allow for more economical utilization. Variable and fixed price plans allow our customers to choose what matters most to them—platform licensing-levels, priority for imagery tasking, and whether to apply analytics or monitoring capabilities overtop the imaging service.

Components of Operating Results

Revenue

Our revenue is generated by selling imagery and software analytics services through our BlackSky Spectra platform and by providing professional and engineering services to strategic customers on a project basis.

• Imagery and Software Analytical Services Revenue
• Imagery: We offer our customers high-revisit, on-demand high resolution electro optical satellite imaging services. Through our BlackSky Spectra software platform, customers can directly task our proprietary satellite constellation to collect and deliver imagery over specific locations, sites, and regions that are critical to their operations. We offer customers several service level options that include basic plans for access to capacity subscriptions for on-demand tasking or multi-year assured access programs, where customers can secure priority access and imaging capacity at a premium over a region of interest on a take or pay basis.
• Data, Software, and Analytics: Our analytics services are also offered on a subscription basis and provide customers with access to our site monitoring, event monitoring and global data services. We leverage our proprietary AI and ML algorithms to analyze data coming from both our proprietary sensor network and third-party space sources in real-time to provide data, insights, and analytics for our customers. We provide services related to object, change and anomaly detection, site monitoring, and enhanced analytics through which we can detect key pattern of life changes in critical locations. These critical locations can include strategic locations and infrastructure such as ports, airports, and construction sites; retail activity; commodities stockpiles; and other sites that contain critical commodities and supply chain inventory.

We expect continued revenue growth in our offerings year over year as a result of increases in our sales orders with new customers and incremental sales orders driven by stronger customer demand with existing customers.

• **Professional and Engineering Services Revenue—**We develop and deliver advanced satellites and payload systems for specific strategic customers that desire to leverage our capabilities in mission systems engineering and operations, ground station operations, software, analytics and systems development. These systems are sold to government customers under fixed price contracts and are often sold with imagery service subscriptions. We retain rights to intellectual property for developed technology of certain systems.

We also provide technology enabled professional service solutions, which are highly-interrelated, to support customer-specific feature requests and to support the integration, testing, and training of our imagery and software analytical services into the customer's organizational processes and workflows. We also provide software systems engineering development services to support the integration of high volume and mass quantities of data in their operating platforms.

We expect continued meaningful contribution from our professional and engineering services revenue, which we expect will be primarily from contracts with existing U.S. and international defense and intelligence customers with whom we have contracted to perform development work prior to the implementation of their subscription service contracts.

Costs and Expenses

Our costs and expenses are incurred from the following categories:

• Imagery and software analytical services costs primarily include internal aerospace and geospatial software development labor, third-party data and imagery, internal labor to support the ground stations and space operations, and cloud computing and hosting services. Costs are expensed as incurred except for incremental costs to obtain a contract, which are primarily sales commissions on contracts greater than one year and are capitalized and amortized to selling, general, and administrative expenses on a systematic basis consistent with the transfer of goods and services and directly identifiable costs to fulfill a contract. Expense related to stock-based payments is classified in the unaudited condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss based upon the classification of each employee's cash compensation. We recognize stock-based compensation expense for those employees whose work supports the imagery and software analytical services costs we provide to customers, under imagery and software analytical service costs, excluding depreciation and amortization.
• Professional and engineering service costs primarily include the cost of internal labor for design and engineering in support of long-term development contracts for customer satellites and payload systems as well as subcontract direct materials and external labor costs to build and test specific components, such as the communications system, payload demands, and sensor integration. In addition, we recognize internal labor costs and external subcontract labor costs for our customer-centric software service solutions. We also recognize stock-based compensation expense for those employees who provide professional and engineering services support to customers, under professional and engineering service costs, excluding depreciation and amortization.

Operating Expenses

Our operating expenses are incurred from the following categories:

• Selling, general, and administrative expense consists of salaries and benefit costs, development costs, professional fees, and other expenses which include other personnel-related costs, stock-based compensation expenses for those employees who generally support our business and operations, and occupancy costs. Our development costs include internal labor costs to design and plan critical real-time software and geospatial analytic solutions and solution enhancements, including mapping, analysis, site target monitoring, and news feeds.
• Research and development expense consists of employees’ salaries, taxes, and benefits costs incurred for data science modeling and algorithm development related to our BlackSky Spectra software platform, and

for the strategic development efforts to support our long-term strategy. In addition, we employ and classify third-party vendors who fulfill our strategic projects as research and development expense. We intend to continue to invest appropriate resources in research and development efforts, as we believe that investment is critical to maintaining our competitive position.

• Depreciation expense is related to property and equipment, which mainly consist of operational satellites. Amortization expense is related to intangible assets, which mainly consist of customer relationships.

Results of Operations for the Three and Six Months Ended June 30, 2024 and 2023

The following table provides the components of results of operations for the three and six months ended June 30, 2024 and 2023:

(dollars in thousands)

• NM - Fluctuation in terms of percentage change is not meaningful.

Revenue

(dollars in thousands)

Imagery and Software Analytical Services Revenue

Imagery and software analytical services revenue increased for the three and six months ended June 30, 2024 as compared to the same periods in 2023, primarily driven by incremental imagery and analytics subscription orders and renewals from existing customers.

Professional and Engineering Services Revenue

Professional and engineering services revenue increased for the three and six months ended June 30, 2024 as compared to the same periods in 2023. The increase was primarily due to a favorable change in the estimation of total costs at completion from identified changes in an engineering program which produced incremental revenue on a cumulative catch-up basis. Such changes in estimates can result in the recognition of revenue in a current period for performance obligations which were satisfied or partially satisfied in a prior period. In addition, the incremental revenue was from a new significant engineering contract that began after the comparable prior period. For the impacts of changes in estimates on our contracts, see Note 2—"Basis of Presentation and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies" of the notes to the consolidated financial statements contained within this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.

Costs and Expenses

(dollars in thousands)

Imagery and Software Analytical Service Costs

Imagery & software analytical service costs, excluding depreciation and amortization, decreased slightly for the three and six months ended June 30, 2024 as compared to the same periods in 2023.

Professional and Engineering Service Costs

Professional & engineering service costs, excluding depreciation and amortization, decreased for the three and six months ended June 30, 2024 as compared to the same periods in 2023, primarily due to fewer direct material costs incurred on a professional services contract, which was driven by an increase in the program's maturity year-over-year. This decrease was partially offset by an increase in satellite procurement work under a firm-fixed price contract that began in the fourth quarter of 2023.

Selling, General, and Administrative

(dollars in thousands)

Selling, general, and administrative expenses decreased during the three and six months ended June 30, 2024 as compared to the same periods in 2023 primarily due to lower corporate insurance premiums. In addition, during the three months ended June 30, 2024, salaries and benefits costs decreased as compared to the same period in 2023 primarily due to lower headcount in the second quarter of 2024.

For the six months ended June 30, 2024, these decreases were partially offset by increased stock-based compensation expense of $0.5 million due to the acceleration of expense for options that were voluntarily forfeited and increased salaries and payroll-related benefits due to the continued expansion of our sales team.

The following is our forecast for total RSU expense as of June 30, 2024, which, in addition to the amounts recognized in selling, general, and administrative expenses, includes the portion that will be capitalized or classified in imagery and software analytical service costs and professional and engineering service costs:

(in thousands)

32

Research and Development

(dollars in thousands)

Research and development expense increased for the three and six months ended June 30, 2024 as compared to the same periods in 2023. The increase was driven by contracting third-party vendors who fulfill our strategic projects as research and development expense.

Depreciation and Amortization

(dollars in thousands)

Depreciation expense from satellites decreased for the three and six months ended June 30, 2024 as compared to the same periods in 2023 as satellites became fully depreciated.

Depreciation expense from all other property and equipment increased for the three and six months ended June 30, 2024 as compared to the same periods in 2023, primarily driven by capitalization of software and the build-out of new office spaces.

Amortization expense remained flat for the three and six months ended June 30, 2024 as compared to the same periods in 2023.

Non-Operating Expenses

(dollars in thousands)

33

Gain (loss) on derivatives

Fluctuations in our equity warrants and other equity instruments that we classify as derivative liabilities in the unaudited condensed consolidated balance sheets and measure at fair value are significantly driven by our common stock price. Fluctuations to these instruments are inversely related to changes in our common stock price, the volatility of the markets, and the duration of the equity warrants. The gains or losses recognized in the period are non-cash fair value adjustments. These instruments generated a gain during the three and six months ended June 30, 2024 and a loss during the three and six months ended June 30, 2023.

Income on equity method investment

The fluctuations in income on equity method investment are solely impacted by the operating results of our joint venture LeoStella. We did not recognize any percentage of LeoStella's estimated net loss during the three and six months ended June 30, 2024 since our investment in LeoStella was $0 as of December 31, 2023.

Interest income

Interest income decreased during the three and six months ended June 30, 2024 as a result of fewer short-term investments held during the periods, as compared to the three and six months ended June 30, 2023.

Interest expense

Interest expense increased during the three and six months ended June 30, 2024, as compared to the three and six months ended June 30, 2023, as a result of increased debt outstanding during the second quarter of 2024 and a higher effective interest rate on our loans from related parties that were amended during the second quarter of 2023.

Other income (expense), net

For the three and six months ended June 30, 2023, other income (expense), net, included $0.8 million of transaction costs associated with our debt modification during the second quarter of 2023. For the six months ended June 30, 2023, other expense, net also included $0.9 million of transaction costs associated with new warrants that are accounted for as derivative liabilities.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

In addition to our results determined in accordance with GAAP, management utilizes certain non-GAAP performance measures, such as Adjusted EBITDA, for purposes of evaluating our ongoing operations and for internal planning and forecasting purposes. Our management and board of directors believe that this non-GAAP operating measure, when reviewed with our GAAP financial information, provides useful supplemental information to investors in assessing our operating performance.

Adjusted EBITDA

Adjusted EBITDA is defined as net income or loss attributable to us before interest income, interest expense, income tax expense or benefit, depreciation and amortization, as well as significant non-cash and/or non-recurring expenses as our management believes these items are not useful in evaluating our core operating performance. These items include, but are not limited to, stock-based compensation expense, unrealized (gain) loss on certain warrants/shares classified as derivative liabilities, litigation, settlements, and related costs, severance, income on equity method investment, transaction costs associated with debt and equity financings, and investment loss on short-term investments. We have presented Adjusted EBITDA because it is a key measure used by our management and board of directors to understand and evaluate our operating performance, generate future operating plans and make strategic decisions regarding the allocation of capital. In particular, we believe that the exclusion of certain items in calculating Adjusted EBITDA can produce a useful measure for period-to-period comparisons of our business. Accordingly, we believe that Adjusted EBITDA provides useful information in understanding and evaluating our operating results. In addition, we believe that Adjusted EBITDA provides additional information for investors to use in evaluating our ongoing operating results and trends. This non-GAAP measure provides investors with incremental information for the evaluation of our performance after isolation of certain items deemed unrelated to our core business operations.

Adjusted EBITDA is presented as a supplemental measure to our GAAP measures of performance. When evaluating Adjusted EBITDA, you should be aware that we may incur future expenses similar to those excluded when calculating this measure. In addition, our presentation of this measure should not be construed as an inference that our future results will be unaffected by unusual or non-recurring items. Furthermore, our computation of Adjusted EBITDA may not be directly comparable to similarly titled measures computed by other companies, as the nature of the adjustments that other companies may include or exclude when calculating Adjusted EBITDA may differ from the adjustments reflected in our measure. Because of these limitations, Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered in isolation, nor should this measure be viewed as a substitute for the most directly comparable GAAP measure, which is net loss. We compensate for the limitations of non-GAAP measures by relying primarily on our GAAP results. You should review the reconciliation of our net loss to Adjusted EBITDA below and not rely on any single financial measure to evaluate our performance.

The table below reconciles our net loss to Adjusted EBITDA for the three and six months ended June 30, 2024 and 2023:

(in thousands)

Liquidity and Capital Resources

As of June 30, 2024, our existing sources of liquidity included cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments. Our cash and cash equivalents excluding restricted cash totaled $25.6 million and $32.8 million as of June 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, respectively, and our short-term investments totaled $15.7 million and $19.7 million as of June 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023, respectively. We have incurred losses and generated negative cash flows from operations since our inception in September 2014. As of June 30, 2024, we had an accumulated deficit of $624.2 million.

Our short-term liquidity as of June 30, 2024 was comprised of the following:

(in thousands)

(1) Short-term investments are included in cash flows from investing activities in the unaudited condensed consolidated statements of cash flows.

Our short-term liquidity as of June 30, 2024 was $42.3 million. We expect cash and cash equivalents and cash generated from operating activities to be sufficient to meet our working capital and capital expenditure needs for the foreseeable future. Our future long-term capital requirements will depend on many factors including our growth rate, customer demand for capacity, the timing and extent of spending to support solution development efforts, the expansion of sales and marketing activities, the ongoing investments in technology infrastructure, the introduction of new and enhanced solutions, and the continuing market acceptance of our solutions.

We have contract assets of $28.2 million and we anticipate receiving the majority of our contract assets in payments over the next 12 months as interim milestones on a few major customer contracts are met and expected to be billed, further enhancing our liquidity. From time to time, we may seek additional equity or debt financing to fund capital expenditures, strategic initiatives or investments and our ongoing operations.

In April 2024, we entered into a commercial bank line with Stifel Bank, as lender. The commercial bank line provides for a $20.0 million revolving credit facility, including a $0.5 million sub-facility for the issuance of letters of credit and other ancillary banking services. The commercial bank line matures on June 30, 2026. As of June 30, 2024, we had borrowed $20.0 million in revolving loans. We plan to use the proceeds of the loans for the funding of growth initiatives, including working capital needs, and general corporate purposes. The Company may increase or decrease its borrowings at its discretion with no penalty to meet the funding needs of these growth initiatives.

The commercial bank line accrues interest at a rate equal to the greater of (A) the prime rate or (B) 6%. Interest on the loan is payable quarterly in arrears. We are required to pay an unused line fee of 0.25% per annum, payable quarterly in arrears. We may borrow, prepay, and re-borrow revolving loans, without premium or penalty. The principal amount of outstanding loans, together with accrued and unpaid interest, is due on the loan maturity date. We are also obligated to pay a fee to the lender upon the occurrence of certain change of control events or the refinancing, repayment, or termination of the commercial bank line, along with other customary fees for a loan facility of this size and type.

The commercial bank line contains customary affirmative and negative covenants, including covenants limiting our ability to, among other things, incur debt, grant liens, pay dividends and distributions on our capital stock, make investments and acquisitions, and make capital expenditures, in each case subject to customary exceptions for a loan facility of this size and type. The commercial bank line also contains financial covenants requiring compliance with a minimum revenue covenant, measured at the end of each fiscal quarter, and maintenance, at all times, of unrestricted cash and cash equivalents with Stifel Bank or in controlled accounts in an aggregate amount at least equal to the outstanding obligations under the commercial bank line. If we fail to meet the minimum cash covenant, the commercial bank line provides us with the ability to cure the breach with the deposit of proceeds from the issuance of capital stock or subordinated debt.

The commercial bank line includes customary events of default, including payment defaults, covenant breach defaults, cross defaults with certain other material indebtedness, bankruptcy and insolvency defaults, and a material adverse effect default, as well as an event of default for certain impairments of the availability of our at-the-market ("ATM") facility. The occurrence of an event of default could result in the acceleration of our obligations under the commercial bank line, the termination of Stifel Bank’s commitments, a 5% increase in the applicable rate of interest, and the exercise by Stifel Bank of other rights and remedies provided for under the commercial bank line.

We were in compliance with all covenants as of June 30, 2024 and expect to remain in compliance with all covenants in the next 12 months from the issuance of the financial statements.

The Company also has the ability to offer and sell from time to time up to $75.0 million of newly issued shares in open trading windows at market prices through a designated broker dealer pursuant to an ATM offering, of which we have sold $3.2 million during the six months ended June 30, 2024. If we decide, or are required, to seek additional financing from outside sources, we may not be able to raise it on terms acceptable to us or at all. If we are unable to raise additional capital when desired, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

The Company entered into a vendor financing agreement for multiple launches providing for $27.0 million, of which a portion will be drawn down equally per launch and will be repaid quarterly on a pro-rata basis across a three-year period after each successful launch milestone. Payments will accrue interest at 12.6% per annum, beginning on each launch date. The Company may prepay at any time until the maturity date without premium or penalty. See Note 7—“Debt and Other Financing” of the notes to the consolidated financial statements for further information on our debt and financing arrangements and Note 14 —" Commitments and Contingencies" of the notes to the consolidated financial statements for further information on our contractual obligations.

Funding Requirements

We continue to generate positive Adjusted EBITDA; however, we cannot be sure our revenues will continue to exceed expenses in the near term due to the ongoing investments we are making in sales, marketing and products to increase our market share. We expect to continue to incur capital expenditures as we procure and launch Gen-3 satellites, as well as investing in our BlackSky Spectra software platform to significantly expand our product capabilities in the future. Please refer to the section entitled "Non-GAAP Financial Measures" for additional information on our definition of Adjusted EBITDA.

Short-Term Liquidity Requirements

As of June 30, 2024, our current assets were $82.4 million, consisting primarily of cash and cash equivalents, short-term investments, and contract assets.

As of June 30, 2024, our current liabilities were $19.7 million, consisting primarily of accounts payable and accrued liabilities. Accordingly, we have sufficient cash and working capital to fund our short-term liquidity requirements.

Long-Term Liquidity Requirements

We anticipate that our most significant long-term liquidity and capital needs will relate to continued funding of operations, satellite development capital expenditures, launch capital expenditures, and ongoing investments in our BlackSky Spectra software platform and internal infrastructure that will enable us to continue to scale the business efficiently and securely. We can manage the timing for a large part of our capital expenditures, including the design, build, and launch of our new satellites currently under development, to provide us with additional flexibility to optimize our long-term liquidity requirements. Macroeconomic conditions and credit markets could also impact the availability and/or the cost of potential future debt or equity financing.

Cash Flow Analysis

The following table provides a summary of cash flow data for the six months ended June 30, 2024 and 2023. Our short-term liquidity at June 30, 2024 was $42.3 million. Short-term investments of $15.7 million are not classified as cash, cash equivalents, or restricted cash.

(in thousands)

Operating activities

For the six months ended June 30, 2024, net cash used in operating activities was $5.6 million. The contributor to the significant decrease in cash used during the six months ended June 30, 2024 as compared to the six months ended June 30, 2023 was the decrease in the operating loss, adjusted for depreciation, amortization, stock-based compensation expense, gain (loss) on derivatives, and other non-cash items. The operating loss decrease in the six months ended June 30, 2024 as compared to the six months ended June 30, 2023 was due to increased professional & engineering services revenue from a new significant engineering contract that began after the comparable prior period as well as increased imagery revenue driven by incremental subscription orders and renewals from existing customers.

Investing activities

The change in net cash used in investing activities was primarily due to decreased proceeds from the redemption and maturity of $18.0 million of our short-term investments in corporate debt and governmental securities in addition to decreased purchases of these same type of investments of $13.5 million during the six months ended June 30, 2024. Comparatively, during the six months ended June 30, 2023, we recognized $41.1 million related to the redemption and maturity of short-term investments, largely due to restructuring our banking relationships with new and existing financial institutions; during the six months ended June 30, 2023, we purchased $19.4 million of short-term investments to replace maturing investments.

We continue to have significant cash outflows for satellite procurement and launch related services and incur labor costs for internally developed capitalized software as we add innovative new services and tools to our BlackSky Spectra software platform. The total amount paid for capital expenditures was relatively flat during the six months ended June 30, 2024 as compared to the six months ended June 30, 2023.

Financing activities

The decrease in cash flows from financing activities in the six months ended June 30, 2024 as compared to the six months ended June 30, 2023 is due to the decrease in proceeds from our equity issuances, net of equity issuance costs. Our equity issuances in the six months ended June 30, 2024 of $2.9 million included the sale of 2.6 million shares under our ATM offering program, which resulted in $3.2 million in gross proceeds. Our equity issuances in the six months ended June 30, 2023 included a private placement of 16.4 million shares at a purchase price of $1.79 per share, which resulted in $29.4 million in gross proceeds as well as the sale of 1.0 million shares under our ATM offering program, which resulted in $1.9 million in gross proceeds. The decrease in proceeds from equity issuances was partially offset by borrowings from our revolving credit facility of $20.0 million during the six months ended June 30, 2024.

Critical Accounting Estimates

The preparation of our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and related notes requires management to make judgments, estimates, and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue, and expenses. Management has based its estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. Actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions.

For a description of our significant accounting policies, see Note 2—“Basis of Presentation and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies” of the notes to the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements. An accounting policy is considered to be critical if it requires an accounting estimate to be made based on assumptions about matters that are highly uncertain at the time the estimate is made, and if different estimates that reasonably could have been used, or changes in the accounting estimates that are reasonably likely to occur periodically, could materially impact the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements. Management believes the following critical accounting policies reflect the more significant estimates and assumptions used in the preparation of our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements.

Revenue Recognition

The recognition and measurement of revenue requires the use of judgments and estimates. Specifically, judgment is used in interpreting complex arrangements with nonstandard terms and conditions and determining when all criteria for revenue recognition have been met, as further discussed below.

We generate revenue from the sale of imagery, data, software, and analytics, as well as professional and engineering services.

Identifying the Contract with the Customer

We evidence approval of the contract with the customer with dual signatures or approved purchase orders that detail the rights of each party and define payment terms. We also consider the probability of collectability in our assessment, specifically the presence of any collectability issues as the significant majority of our customers are domestic or international governments.

Identifying the Performance Obligations in a Contract

We execute contracts for a single promise or multiple promises. Specifically, our firm-fixed price contracts typically include multiple promises which may be accounted for as separate performance obligations if they are capable of being distinct within the context of the contract. Significant judgment is required in determining performance obligations, including if some of the customized services are highly-interrelated, and these decisions could change the amount of revenue and profit or loss recorded in each period.

Classification of Revenue

We classify revenue as imagery and software analytical services, and professional and engineering services in our unaudited condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss based on the predominant attributes of the performance obligations.

Determination of and Allocation of Transaction Price

Each customer contract sets forth the transaction price for the products and services purchased under the arrangement. We estimate any variable consideration, and whether the transaction price is constrained, upon execution of each contract. We may adjust the transaction price over time for any estimated constraints that become probable based on service level provisions within some of our customer purchase orders. For contracts with multiple performance obligations, we evaluate whether the stated selling prices for the products or services represent their standalone selling prices. When it is necessary to allocate the transaction price to multiple performance obligations, management uses the listed price for imagery and analytics subscriptions and the expected cost plus a reasonable profit margin to estimate the standalone selling price of each product or service, which is mostly professional services.

Determination of when Performance Obligations are Satisfied

Imagery and analytics revenue is recognized ratably over the subscription period based on the promise to continuously provide contractual satellite capacity for tasked imagery or software analytical services at the discretion of the customer. Professional and engineering services revenue is generated from time and materials basis contracts, firm-fixed price service solutions contracts and firm-fixed price long-term engineering and construction contracts. Due to the long-term nature of some of our engineering and construction contracts, we recognize revenue over time using a cost-to-complete measure of progress because it best depicts the transfer of control to the customer as we incur costs on the contracts. Under this measure of progress, the extent of progress towards completion is measured based on the ratio of costs incurred to date to the total estimated costs to complete the performance obligation(s). The estimation of total estimated costs at completion is subject to many variables and requires significant judgment. We recognize changes in the estimation of total costs at completion on a cumulative catch-up basis in the period in which the changes are identified. Such changes in estimates can result in the recognition of revenue in a current period for performance obligations which were satisfied or partially satisfied in a prior period. If at any time, the estimate of contract profitability indicates a probable anticipated loss on the contract, we recognize the total loss as and when known.

Equity Valuations

Equity valuations impact various amounts and accounting conclusions reflected in our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements, including the recognition of equity-based compensation and warrant valuations. The following discussion provides additional details regarding the significant estimates, assumptions, and judgments that impacted the determination of the fair values of equity-based compensation awards, warrants, and the common stock that comprise our capital structure. The following discussion also explains why these estimates, assumptions, and judgments could be subject to uncertainties and future variability.

Equity-Based Compensation

We have equity and equity-based awards outstanding under our 2021 Equity Incentive Plan ("2021 Plan"), 2014 Equity Incentive Plan ("2014 Plan"), and Amended and Restated 2011 Equity Incentive Plan ("2011 Plan"). Awards issued include stock options, restricted stock awards ("RSAs"), and restricted stock units ("RSUs"). In addition, our eligible employees are able to participate in our 2021 Employee Stock Purchase Plan ("ESPP") pursuant to purchase right offerings that are established under the ESPP.

For purposes of recognizing equity-based compensation related to RSAs, RSUs, and stock options granted to employees and other service providers, management estimates the grant date fair values of such awards to measure the costs to be recognized as services are received. For awards with time-based vesting conditions, we recognize compensation costs based upon the straight-line amortization of the grant date fair value of the awards over the requisite service period. When equity-based compensation awards include a performance condition, no compensation is recognized until the performance condition is deemed probable to occur; we then recognize compensation costs based on the accelerated attribution method, which accounts for awards with discrete vesting dates as if they were separate awards.

Stock Option and Class A Common Stock Warrant Valuations

We use the Black-Scholes option-pricing model to value all options, including options under our ESPP, and Class A common stock warrants. Estimating the fair value of stock options using the Black-Scholes option-pricing model requires the application of significant assumptions, such as the estimated term of the options, risk-free interest rates, the expected volatility of the price of our Class A common stock, and an expected dividend yield. Each of these assumptions is subjective, requires significant judgment, and is based upon management’s best estimates. If any of these assumptions were to change significantly in the future, equity-based compensation related to future awards may differ significantly, as compared with awards previously granted.

We have largely moved towards granting RSUs to the bulk of our employees, for which the grant date fair value is equal to the trading price fair value of our Class A common stock on the date of grant. For stock options, which are primarily granted to certain management employees, we use the following inputs under Black-Scholes as follows:

Expected Dividend Yield—The Black-Scholes valuation model requires an expected dividend yield as an input. The dividend yield is based on historical experience and expected future changes. We historically have not paid, and currently have no plans to pay dividends on our Class A common stock and, accordingly, have assumed no dividend yield upon valuation of our stock options.

Expected Volatility—As there was no observable volatility with respect to Legacy BlackSky Class A common stock and due to the lack of sufficient history of BlackSky Class A common stock, the expected volatility of Legacy BlackSky and BlackSky Class A common stock was estimated based upon the historical share price volatility of guideline comparable companies.

Risk-free Interest Rate—The yield on actively traded, non-inflation indexed U.S. Treasury notes was used to extrapolate an average risk-free interest rate based on the expected term of the underlying grants.

Expected Term—For options granted since 2021, as there is not a significant history of option exercises as a public company, we consider the option vesting terms and contractual period, as well as the demographics of the holders, in estimating the expected term. For options granted prior to 2021 when we were a private company, the expected term was the estimated duration to a liquidation event based on a weighted average consideration of the most likely exit prospects for that stage of development. We will continue to review our estimate in the future and adjust it, if necessary, due to changes in our historical exercises.

Private Placement Warrants and Sponsor Shares

We have classified the Private Placement Warrants issued in October 2019 and March 2023 and the Osprey pre-merger Class B common shares that were exchanged for shares of our Class A common stock (the "Sponsor Shares") as long-term liabilities in our unaudited condensed consolidated balance sheets as of June 30, 2024 and December 31, 2023. The Private Placement Warrants issued in October 2019 and the Sponsor Shares were initially recorded at fair value on the date of the merger and the Private Placement Warrants issued in March 2023 were recorded at fair value on the date of issuance. The Private Placement Warrants were recorded at fair value using a Black-Scholes option pricing model and the Sponsor Shares were recorded at fair value using a Monte Carlo simulation model. These liabilities are re-measured to fair value at each subsequent reporting date and recorded to gain (loss) on derivatives in our unaudited condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss. We will continue to adjust the liability for changes in fair value until the financial instruments are exercised, redeemed, cancelled or released.

The fair value models require inputs including, but not limited to, the fair value of our Class A common stock, the risk-free interest rate, expected term, expected dividend yield and expected volatility. The fair value of our Class A common stock is the closing stock price on the NYSE as of the measurement date. The risk-free interest rate assumption is determined by using U.S. Treasury rates for the same period as the expected terms of the financial instruments. The dividend yield assumption is based on the dividends expected to be paid over the expected life of the financial instruments. We have historically been a private company and lacked sufficient company-specific historical and implied volatility information. Therefore, the expected stock volatility includes both our Class A common stock and public warrant historical volatility as well as the historical volatility of a set of publicly traded peer companies. Changes in these assumptions can materially affect the estimate of the fair value of these instruments and ultimately the change in fair value.

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

Disclosure controls are procedures that are designed with the objective of ensuring that information required to be disclosed in our reports filed under the Exchange Act, such as this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time period specified in the SEC’s rules and forms. Disclosure controls are also designed with the objective of reasonably ensuring that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including the chief executive officer and chief financial officer, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure. Our management evaluated, with the participation of our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer (our “Certifying Officers”), the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as of June 30, 2024, pursuant to Rule 13a-15(b) under the Exchange Act. Based upon that evaluation, our Certifying Officers concluded that, as of June 30, 2024, our disclosure controls and procedures were effective at a reasonable assurance level.

In designing and evaluating the disclosure controls and procedures, management recognized that controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable assurance of achieving the desired control objectives. Further, because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that misstatements due to error or fraud will not occur or that all control issues and instances of fraud, if any, within the Company will be detected.

Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

There was no change in our internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act) during the quarter ended June 30, 2024 that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

For risk factors relating to our business, please refer to the section entitled “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023 and filed by us with the SEC. Any of those factors could result in a significant or material adverse effect on our results of operations or financial condition. Additional risk factors not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial may also impair our business or results of operations. We may disclose changes to such factors or disclose additional factors from time to time in our future filings with the SEC.