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BlackSky raised full-year guidance after first-quarter results, increasing 2026 revenue outlook to $130 million-$150 million and adjusted EBITDA guidance to $12 million-$24 million. Management said first-quarter revenue was $20.8 million and that the updated forecast reflects accelerating demand.
Gen-3 satellite demand is driving growth, with CEO Brian O'Toole citing up to $160 million in year-to-date contract awards and a shift from pilots to larger subscription deals. The company expects its space-based intelligence and AI services business to grow more than 50% in 2026.
Operational momentum and backlog are improving as BlackSky now has four Gen-3 satellites in service and expects at least eight on orbit this year. Backlog was about $351 million at quarter-end, or roughly $380 million including early-April contracts, with a stronger second half expected.
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BlackSky Technology (NYSE:BKSY) raised its 2026 revenue and adjusted EBITDA outlook after reporting first-quarter results that management said reflected accelerating demand for its Gen-3 satellite imagery and AI-enabled intelligence services.
Chief Executive Officer Brian O'Toole said on the company’s earnings call that BlackSky is “off to a strong start to 2026,” citing up to $160 million in contract awards year to date and what he described as a business “inflection point” as Gen-3 capabilities move into full operations. The company said Gen-3 is supporting new and existing customers with 35-centimeter imaging, low-latency tasking and AI analytics through its Spectra platform.
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“Demand for our Gen-3 capabilities has never been stronger,” O'Toole said, adding that BlackSky is moving customers from pilot programs into longer-term seven- and eight-figure subscription contracts.
Chief Financial Officer Henry Dubois said first-quarter revenue was $20.8 million. He noted that space-based intelligence and AI services revenue rose 14% from the prior quarter as Gen-3 entered commercial operations. Dubois said year-over-year comparisons were affected by a $9 million revenue milestone in the first quarter of 2025 tied to the company’s Mission Solutions program.
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BlackSky increased its full-year revenue guidance to a range of $130 million to $150 million, up from its prior outlook of $120 million to $145 million. At the midpoint, the new range implies overall growth of more than 30% compared with 2025, according to Dubois.
The company also raised its adjusted EBITDA guidance to a range of $12 million to $24 million, up from $6 million to $18 million previously. Dubois said the midpoint of the updated outlook would represent a 13% adjusted EBITDA margin. First-quarter adjusted EBITDA was a loss of $5.1 million, which Dubois said was in line with internal expectations.
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BlackSky reaffirmed its capital expenditure guidance of $50 million to $60 million. The company ended the quarter with $117.5 million in cash, restricted cash and short-term investments, and total liquidity of more than $195 million.
O'Toole said BlackSky won more than $60 million in new contract awards from major international and U.S. government customers tied to its space-based intelligence and AI services. He said those awards are expected to contribute to 2026 revenue, improve margins and increase backlog for future years.
The company expects its space-based intelligence and AI services business to grow more than 50% in 2026 and reach an annual run rate of more than $100 million. O'Toole said the subscription revenue in that business is expected to deliver gross margins of about 80%.
During the question-and-answer session, O'Toole said the company is seeing pilots begin at six-figure levels and then convert into larger subscription deals. He cited a recently announced $30 million one-year subscription contract that began as a six-figure pilot about six months earlier.
Dubois said BlackSky’s backlog was approximately $351 million as of March 31, not including some large contracts signed in early April. Including those contracts, total backlog would be about $380 million, with approximately $90 million expected to be recognized in 2026. He said most of that amount is tied to Gen-3 subscription revenue and that the second half of the year is expected to be stronger than the first half.
BlackSky said it has four Gen-3 satellites in operation after successfully launching its fourth satellite in March. O'Toole said the satellite delivered first-light imagery within hours of launch and was commissioned into operations in less than a week.
With four Gen-3 satellites in operation, O'Toole said the company has achieved daily revisit rates for very high-resolution 35-centimeter imaging across key regions of interest. Combined with the company’s Gen-2 constellation, BlackSky said it is offering customers dynamic hourly monitoring with very high-resolution imaging.
O'Toole said the company remains on track to have at least eight Gen-3 satellites on orbit this year. In response to an analyst question, he said current growth in the business is not limited by capacity, though additional satellites will increase capacity and improve frequency for very high-resolution services.
O'Toole said customers are using BlackSky’s services to task hundreds of images over several days within specific areas of operation. He said imagery delivery timelines are consistently under 40 minutes, including processing for AI-enabled analytics. In one example discussed on the call, he said the company’s AI analytics detected and classified more than 5 million objects over several days as part of customer workflows.
Management emphasized that BlackSky’s AI capabilities are already embedded in customer workflows, rather than being limited to demonstrations or offline processing. O'Toole said the company’s proprietary AI was purpose-built for real-time geospatial intelligence and has been validated by major defense and intelligence organizations.
Asked about customer adoption of analytics, O'Toole said customers have access to imagery tasking from both Gen-2 and Gen-3 satellites and can add AI-enabled analytics as part of those workflows. He said customers often begin with dynamic tasking and then increase use of analytics over time.
BlackSky also pointed to increasing demand for sovereign space programs. O'Toole said international customers are showing interest in end-to-end offerings that include satellites, ground infrastructure, secure operations and AI-enabled analytics. He said proven on-orbit performance is important for customers making long-term acquisition decisions.
O'Toole said international revenue is expected to account for much of the company’s growth this year, while assumptions for U.S. government EOCL revenue remain conservative at the levels where the company exited last year. He said the company is monitoring funding from the U.S. fiscal 2026 budget for commercial imagery.
BlackSky also discussed a contract worth up to $99 million with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory for development of an advanced large-aperture optical payload. O'Toole said the multi-year sole-source contract supports technology the company has been developing for several years and represents customer-funded investment aligned with U.S. government priorities.
The company also highlighted ongoing work on AROS, its planned wide-area search and mapping system. O'Toole said the system, combined with real-time AI processing, is intended to support applications such as broad-area monitoring, change detection, maritime surveillance and 3D digital twins for AI-enabled autonomous systems.
In closing, O'Toole said BlackSky’s year-to-date sales are ahead of plan and that the performance of Gen-3 is driving customer adoption, revenue growth and margin expansion.
BlackSky Technology, Inc operates Earth observation and geospatial intelligence services through a constellation of small satellites and an analytics platform. The company collects and processes high-revisit satellite imagery, enabling near-real-time monitoring of global events and locations. Clients across government, defense and commercial sectors leverage BlackSky’s imagery and data to support decision-making in areas such as supply chain monitoring, humanitarian aid, infrastructure management and security operations.
Founded in 2014 as part of Spaceflight Industries, BlackSky has grown its satellite constellation and analytics capabilities to deliver satellite imagery with high revisit rates and rapid tasking.
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The article "BlackSky Technology Q1 Earnings Call Highlights" was originally published by MarketBeat.
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