Spire Global Q2 Earnings Call Highlights
Key Points
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- Spire reported $18 million in second-quarter revenue and reaffirmed its 2026 outlook of $75 million to $85 million. More than 85% of full-year guidance was under contract, although management expects most of the second-half revenue increase in the fourth quarter.
- Growth is being driven by government weather programs and RF geolocation demand. NOAA opportunities include a $5 million HyMS extension and a potential eight-figure contract, while RFGL capacity has increased roughly tenfold and the company added several new international customers.
- Adjusted EBITDA remained negative at $8.6 million, but improved year over year, and Spire maintained its target of reaching breakeven between late 2026 and early 2027. The company ended the quarter debt-free with about $92 million in cash and marketable securities, while a legal ruling awarded Spire approximately $12.4 million.
Spire Global (NYSE:SPIR) reported second-quarter revenue of $18 million and reaffirmed its 2026 revenue outlook of $75 million to $85 million, as the satellite-data company cited growing government weather, radio frequency geolocation and international defense opportunities.
Chief Executive Officer Theresa Condor said core revenue, excluding the maritime business divested last year, increased both year over year and sequentially. Chief Financial Officer Ali Engel said core revenue rose 16% from a year earlier and 19% from the first quarter, driven primarily by higher delivery of space-services data and increased RF geolocation, or RFGL, data purchases.
Second-half ramp remains central to outlook
Spire reported first-half revenue of $33.9 million, meaning its full-year outlook implies roughly $41 million to $51 million of revenue during the second half. Engel told analysts that revenue should increase in the third quarter, but that the majority of the anticipated step-up is expected in the fourth quarter.
As of the end of July, more than 85% of the company’s full-year guidance was under contract, up from 76% in May, Condor said. The contracted base includes NOAA radio occultation work, European radio occultation programs, space-services contracts and expanded commercial agreements.
The company maintained its expectation to reach adjusted EBITDA breakeven between late 2026 and early 2027. Second-quarter adjusted EBITDA was negative $8.6 million, an improvement of 16% year over year and 15% sequentially, which Engel attributed primarily to lower operating expenses.
Non-GAAP gross margin was 38%, down from 52% a year earlier. Engel said the decline stemmed from the cancellation for convenience of the WildFireSat contract and related balance-sheet cleanup. She said Spire expects gross-margin expansion in the second half as revenue grows against a relatively fixed cost base, and reiterated a longer-term gross-margin target of 60% to 70%.
Cash flow used in operations totaled $23.4 million, improving 32% year over year and 11% sequentially. Spire ended the quarter with approximately $92 million in cash equivalents and marketable securities and said it remains debt-free. Engel said the company expects about $27 million of fixed-asset and property, plant and equipment purchases for the full year.
NOAA opportunities advance
Condor said Spire had been pursuing more than $150 million of opportunities across NOAA’s portfolio. During the quarter, a NOAA hyperspectral microwave sounder, or HyMS, data contract extension was signed with a value of up to $5 million over nine months. Separately, Spire is negotiating an eight-figure HyMS contract opportunity following on-orbit validation of its payload.
Condor said the two microwave-sounding opportunities are separate and that the larger opportunity could be awarded within the next month. The company’s existing NOAA radio occultation, or RO, contract, valued at $11.2 million last year, remains in execution.
Spire expects the RO renewal to arrive in two phases as NOAA establishes a multiyear $8 billion indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract vehicle. The company expects a shorter bridge award in August, followed by a longer-term award once the IDIQ is in place. Condor said the combined follow-on RO contracts are expected to exceed last year’s $11.2 million annual value, while noting that the bridge award itself would not cover a full year.
International weather demand also expanded. Spire said its annual EUMETSAT RO-data contract was increased to more than EUR 4 million annually. The company also signed two six-figure commercial contracts in early July for global weather forecasts and historical weather data.
RF geolocation capacity and customer base expand
Spire secured RFGL awards from four new international customers in the second quarter, following five new U.S. awards and three new international customers reported in the first quarter. Condor said the company’s RFGL capacity has increased about tenfold since the beginning of the year, largely because of new satellites, while upgrades and active constellation management also support the capability.
The company launched 19 satellites in the first quarter and said they are reaching full operational status on schedule. It launched another 10 satellites in early July, bringing its 2026 total to 29 satellites. Condor said the newer satellites and single-satellite geolocation capabilities for S-band and X-band signals broaden collection capacity and lower the constellation cost of coverage.
Spire has reserved launch capacity through 2028. It also opened a satellite manufacturing facility in Munich in May, adding to manufacturing operations in North America and the U.K. The company said its combined production capacity is approximately 300 to 400 satellites annually.
In July, Spire also established its first cross-plane optical inter-satellite laser link between two equipped satellites. Condor said the link was held for more than five minutes over about 5,000 kilometers and is intended to reduce data latency and dependence on ground-station proximity as the constellation expands.
European partnerships and legal ruling
During the quarter, Spire announced partnerships with German companies Schaeffler and Diehl Defence. Condor said the collaborations are intended to explore sovereign European space infrastructure, satellite technologies and defense applications. She told analysts Spire expects to provide products, capabilities and space heritage through the relationships, with potential for some revenue in 2026, though certain opportunities may take longer to develop.
Management also pointed to European defense spending and proposed European Union space initiatives as supportive of long-term demand for space-based intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities. Condor said the company expects its international RFGL awards to provide early evidence of this demand reaching its backlog.
Finally, Spire disclosed in an 8-K that all claims brought by NorthStar had been dismissed and that approximately $12.4 million was awarded in Spire’s favor. Engel said legal expenses related to the matter should decline, while costs associated with the WildFireSat termination have also largely slowed.
About Spire Global (NYSE:SPIR)
Spire Global (NYSE: SPIR) is a space-to-cloud data and analytics company that operates a constellation of low Earth orbit nanosatellites to collect radio occultation, maritime Automatic Identification System (AIS), and aviation tracking data. By leveraging proprietary satellite hardware and ground infrastructure, Spire captures precise, near-real-time observations of Earth's atmosphere, oceans, and surface traffic to power downstream analytics for weather forecasting, fleet optimization, and safety monitoring.
The company's core offerings include weather and climate intelligence derived from GPS radio occultation, which enhances numerical weather prediction models; maritime domain awareness services that track vessel movements and supply chain dynamics; and aviation analytics that monitor air traffic for efficiency and security applications.
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