WASHINGTON — Commercial imaging company Satellogic has laid off 13% of its workforce as the company continues its efforts to reduce costs and seek new business from the U.S. government.
In a May 24 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Satellogic announced it had laid off 34 employees, or about 13% of its workforce at the time. The company said the layoffs were part of its “previously announced and ongoing efforts to reduce operational costs and control spending.”
The company didn’t elaborate on what positions were affected and in what countries. Satellogic stated in its annual report to the SEC in April that it had 274 employees worldwide as of the end of 2023, including 150 in Argentina and 47 in Uruguay, where the company is headquartered. It had 44 employees in Spain, 21 in the United States and 12 in other countries.
The latest layoffs come after earlier workforce reductions that cut about 110 jobs in 2023. Those cuts, along with what it called “moderation of capital expenditures and a reduction of certain discretionary spending” in its SEC report, were intended to reduce the company’s costs and stretch out its available cash.
Satellogic, which operates a constellation of more than two dozen satellites for collecting high-resolution and hyperspectral imagery, reported $10.1 million in revenue in 2023, a 68% increase from 2022. The company reported a net loss of $61 million in 2023 versus $36.6 million in 2022.
“While we are encouraged by our positive momentum, we experienced slower than anticipated revenue growth. As a result, we undertook cost and spending control measures in 2023,” Rick Dunn, chief financial officer of Satellogic, said in an April 15 statement about the company’s financial results.
Satellogic had, in September, forecasted revenues of $38 million to $58 million in 2024, but Dunn said the company was withdrawing that guidance and did not offer a forecast for revenue in 2024 because of a sales cycle that is “often long and subject to many variables beyond our control.”
The company announced in September it would move its headquarters to the United States. Doing so, company executives argued, would make it easier to tap into the U.S. government market directly rather than work through resellers. As a part of that process, the company obtained a commercial remote sensing license from the Office of Space Commerce, within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in November.
Satellogic said in April it was still on track to complete the redomiciling process in the first half of 2024, and that afterwards it would report financial results on a quarterly basis rather semiannually as the company had been doing since going public through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger in 2022.
The company also announced in April that it raised $30 million through a senior convertible notes agreement with Tether Investments Ltd., a cryptocurrency company. Satellogic said it will use the net proceeds, after transaction fees and expenses, of $27.6 million to support company operations. Satellogic had reported a cash balance of $23.5 million at the end of 2023, down from $76.5 million at the end of 2022.
“The proceeds from Tether’s investment in Satellogic will help advance our mission as we continue to focus on our U.S. strategy, the national security market and our global Space Systems opportunities,” Emiliano Kargieman, founder and chief executive of Satellogic, said in a statement.