https://www.cnbc.com/2021/08/09/spac...hnologies.html
SpaceX is buying satellite data start-up Swarm, in a rare acquisition by Elon Musk’s space company
SpaceX is acquiring satellite data start-up Swarm Technologies, in a rare deal by
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, reached an agreement 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 consummation of the Proposed Transaction,” Swarm wrote in the filing…..
The deal marks an uncommon acquisition for SpaceX, which tends to design and build systems in-house. But FCC licenses can be difficult and time-consuming to get approved, and Swarm will transfer control of of its satellite and ground station licenses to SpaceX as part of the deal, according to the filing.…..
Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Mountain View, California, Swarm has been building a constellation of 150 satellites. Its SpaceBEEs are “the smallest commercially operational satellites in space,” the company says – at 11 centimeters by 11 centimeters by 2.8 centimeters, the satellites are about the size of a small notebook.
Swarm’s satellites communicate with its antennas on the ground, with a Swarm “Tile” that can be embedded into a circuit board, to connect Internet of Things, or IoT, devices to a global communications network. A Swarm Tile is priced at $119, and its larger standalone “Eval Kit” is $499, with the company charges a $5 a month subscription fee to use the network.
The company offers services for a wide variety of IoT uses, including agriculture, maritime, energy, environmental, and transportation sectors.….
https://swarm.space/