IoT satellite communications provider Swarm Technologies is being acquired by Elon Musk’s SpaceX. The news comes just as the Small Satellite Conference starts and just days after SpaceQ spoke with Canadian founder Sara Spangelo.
FCC filings from a few days ago reveal that Swarm is seeking FCC authorization for both handing over its existing constellation of 120 “SpaceBEE” nanosatellites to SpaceX, and the authorization for the remainder of its planned 150-satellite constellation.
Swarm’s only statement to SpaceQ on the acquisition was “Swarm can confirm the news but is not commenting on the details of the acquisition beyond what is in the FCC statement.”
This comes after Swarm’s recent launch of the “Swarm Eval kit.” The Kit includes a tripod, a solar panel, a satellite antenna, and Swarm’s long-distance, low-throughput, low-energy LoRa-based communications technology. It also includes USB Wifi and Bluetooth capability, to allow the use of smart devices and PCs to connect with the Swarm network. In an interview with SpaceQ, Swarm CEO Sara Spangelo said that sales of the kit has been brisk, with “dozens and likely to be hundreds” of the Kits having been shipped out to Swarm clients.
This Eval Kit complements Swarm’s existing “Swarm tiles.” The Tiles — smaller than a credit card— can be incorporated into existing IoT devices to connect to the SpaceBEE constellation. Unlike competitors like Fleet Space, Swarm doesn’t provide complex LoRaWAN gateways to its clients that can be connected to hundreds of sensors. The Tiles are designed for direct connections between the device and Swarm’s constellations.
Spangelo said that this made Swarm’s approach uniquely appropriate for clients with mobile or far-flung assets to be monitored or tracked. She pointed to trucking fleets and agricultural assets as two key potential Swarm client bases, as well as more exotic applications like remote beekeeping. Spangelo also pointed to non-commercial use for the Eval Kit in the interview, saying that her own father had taken it to their family cottage in Northern Manitoba. She said that she’s heard that “people will take it camping and on their boats.”
There is as yet no information as to how Swarm’s IoT-focused business will integrate into SpaceX’s Starlink business. Starlink is also in the business of selling remote internet communications. Spangelo said that the low cost of deployment for their nanosatellites has been a key competitive advantage. It’s an advantage that SpaceX may want to take advantage of.
Starlink’s uplink hardware is also far larger and more expensive than the Tiles, which would limit potential deployment of Starlink for existing Swarm customers. Their comparative simplicity and small size, as well as their use of the low-cost and low-throughput LoRaWAN communications protocol, has meant that Swarm’s offerings have been far less expensive to deploy for Swarm’s clients. It seems unlikely that SpaceX will be trying to “upsell” these clients to Starlink. Though it is possible that LoRaWAN may eventually be incorporated into future Starlink sats, rendering Swarm’s current SpaceBEE constellation superfluous.
The filing itself said that “Swarm’s services will benefit from the better capitalization and access to resources available to SpaceX, as well as the synergies associated with acquisition by a provider of satellite design, manufacture, and launch services.” This does imply a search for potential synergies between the Swarm and Starlink constellations — as well as a search for potential redundancies.
Thankfully, it seems unlikely that Swarm’s team will be treated as redundant. Spangelo said that their company was built on vertical integration — with all of Swarm’s hardware, software and firmware being developed and manufactured in-house — so it’s uncertain how this will square with SpaceX’s own manufacturing and development capability. The filing said, however, that SpaceX wanted “access to the intellectual property and expertise developed by the Swarm team.” It seems likely that even if Swarm is fully absorbed by SpaceX, the members of Swarm’s team will find a place there.
Another key question may be what happens to CEO Sara Spangelo. Normally, one would expect her to get a senior role at SpaceX, especially as she’s a veteran of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab and a former Canadian Space Agency astronaut candidate. Spangelo is a Canadian citizen with permanent residence, though, and said in our interview that she has no plans to give up her Canadian citizenship.
While permanent residents like Spangelo are allowed under the United States’ strict ITAR regime, her Canadian citizenship was an issue at NASA, and SpaceX is already being investigated by the Department of Justice over allegations that they have a de-facto policy of only hiring American citizens. Dr. Spangelo is very likely to be an exception, considering the FCC filing — but it does suggest potential difficulties in any integration process