Had to chance to take a look at the @WorldViewSpace SPAC investor presentation - the biggest highlight is really how the presentation is all about Earth observation with very little mention of tourism, underscoring their pivot!
Few more things that caught my attention👇
1. Interestingly, the stratospheric EO capabilities of the company are highlighted as 'complementary' to existing EO infrastructure,(which I obviously subscribe to) - but curious how the public markets respond and whether they would understand/appreciate data 'complementarity.'
2. The difference in resolution capacity (5 cm vs 30 cm) is clear and persistent coverage along w/ ability to capture video is shown as a differentiator with satellites. But for what use cases? How frequently would customers need this data, in addition to other sources?
3. This is probably one of the clearest and simplest business model slides compared with other EO SPACs. But, how does it work? Would data be delivered directly to customer's cloud? Also, makes me wonder if they plan on archiving data from past missions and sell it separately?
4. Clearly, they expect stratospheric EO to be more of an on-demand project model rather than something customers would sign up for the long-term - unlike other satellite EO companies which focus on winning some large contracts (subscriptions) and many small contracts (projects).
5. Couple of partnerships in place - the one with SNC looks attractive (esp. in the defence context), while the one with Maxar looks opportunistic. Would satellite EO companies really want to go-to-market in tandem with another data source, viewed somewhat as a substitute?
6. Clearly, they have some flight heritage and have developed a technology with barriers to entry - although I did not see any mention of competitors Urban Sky or Near Space Labs, nor their overall differentiation in the market. Also, no mention of the existing weather balloons?
7. And, they do not seem to have a vertical-focused strategy, which is surprising as, I think, there as some obvious winning use cases for stratospheric balloons - instead they resorted to the typical EO market slide - "we can do many things", possibly to show a bigger TAM.
Bottomline: Somewhat of a surprising SPAC in EO that seemed to have came out of nowhere especially their complete pivot into EO from tourism (no surprises there).
But, does entering the EO market and showing a sat-complementary, multi-purpose pitch enough to convince investors?!
Go take a look at the presentation yourself and let me know what your thoughts.
sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1824153/000119312523024186/d380996dex991.htm