Spire Global (NYSE:SPIR) executives emphasized expanding government and commercial demand, a growing contracted backlog, and increasing satellite manufacturing capacity, while acknowledging that third-quarter results were pressured by revenue timing shifts tied largely to government-related delays.
Management highlights contract momentum and capacity expansion
CEO Theresa Condor said Spire closed the third quarter following “sizable commercial and government contract wins,” including “triple-digit growth on multiple repeat contract awards” in weather and security. Spire operates a constellation of more than 100 payloads and said its antennas cover every spot on Earth roughly every 12 minutes, serving hundreds of customers across 45 countries.
Condor also said Spire selected KPMG as its new audit partner and expressed confidence that the company is positioned to operate as a “regular reporting public company going forward.”
Weather business supported by NOAA and European demand
Spire highlighted several weather-related contract wins and renewals. Condor said Spire secured its largest radio occultation contract from NOAA in September, describing it as three times the size of the prior year in annual sounding volume and featuring more than a 40% improvement in price per sounding versus historical benchmarks. Spire also won a NOAA contract for ocean surface winds derived from its GNSS-R data for operational forecasting missions.
In Europe, Condor said demand remained robust, citing a renewal of Spire’s radio occultation agreement with EUMETSAT, a GNSS-R data sale to the European Space Agency, and a sale to a leading European weather agency aimed at improving forecast accuracy. She said Spire expects a “deeper partnership with NOAA” in 2026, supported by ongoing discussions about commercial providers’ role in satellite-based observations and a stated policy direction toward more commercial partnerships.
Spire also discussed the planned launch of a microwave sounding satellite “next month,” which Condor said addresses a multi-billion-dollar global atmospheric sounding need. She noted microwave soundings are used widely in forecasting models and said concerns about legacy instrument retirements, data-sharing changes, and delays in new instruments are opening the door to private sector participation.
Security and space services: awards, pipeline, and European defense budgets
Condor described heightened defense-related interest across the U.S. and Europe, including growing attention to RF-based intelligence. She cited an expanded partnership with Deloitte involving satellite clusters equipped with Deloitte’s Silent Shield Cyber Defense Suite. While revenue recognition extends beyond 2025, she said satellite manufacturing, deployment, and backlog conversion are “proceeding exactly as planned,” and that the Deloitte-related work contributes to deferred revenue backlog of more than $200 million.
Spire also said it was selected as an awardee on the U.S. Missile Defense Agency’s multi-award “Uncertain” contract vehicle, which has a shared ceiling of $151 billion. Management said the award positions Spire to compete for task orders over the next decade. During Q&A, executives said they did not have details on which work areas Spire was selected for and were not prepared to estimate what portion of the contract vehicle could be applicable to the company.
In Europe, Condor highlighted Germany’s announced EUR 7 billion per year space defense budget over the next five years and noted Spire’s manufacturing footprint in Munich. She also cited the European Space Agency Ministerial Council’s EUR 22 billion in new subscriptions for the next three years, including EUR 5 billion from Germany. Condor said European defense urgency for commercial partnerships has increased compared to a year ago and that Spire’s pipeline includes multi-year sovereign programs as well as requests for immediate data delivery using installed capacity.
Third-quarter financials reflect timing shifts and divestiture impact
CFO Alison Engel said the third quarter showed strong bookings and growing backlog, but revenue was affected by government delays. GAAP revenue was $12.7 million, and Engel said the year-over-year decline was primarily due to the absence of approximately $11.5 million of maritime revenue in the third quarter of 2024. Spire sold its maritime business at the end of April 2025, and Engel said that business contributed about $40 million of revenue in the prior 12 months.
Engel also cited approximately $6 million to $8 million of revenue that shifted out of the quarter due to:
- Milestone-based revenue recognition timing on an existing multi-year contract, which reduced third-quarter revenue by approximately $4 million to $5 million. Engel said the revenue remains fully contracted and is expected to be recognized in 2026 as milestones are delivered.
- Uncertainty around a NASA Earth observation data contract renewal, along with deferrals of smaller short-duration opportunities. Management said Spire has delivered the NASA contract for several years with high customer satisfaction, but it was not yet signed.
Non-GAAP operating loss was $13.9 million versus $6.1 million in the year-ago quarter, and adjusted EBITDA was negative $11.8 million versus negative $3.1 million. Engel said the changes were primarily driven by the timing of revenue recognized rather than a higher cost structure. Excluding the maritime business and certain one-time expenses, she said operating expenses were down year-over-year and sequentially.
Spire used $20.4 million of free cash flow in the quarter and ended with $96.8 million in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities. Engel attributed cash usage to revenue timing effects, working capital dynamics tied to manufacturing, and elevated legal and professional fees. In Q&A, management said it remained debt-free and expected to finish the year with a “strong cash balance,” while noting ongoing timing mismatches between collections and execution and continued legal spending.
Guidance and outlook: 2026 growth target tied to RPO and delayed revenue
For full-year 2025, Spire guided revenue to $70.5 million to $72.5 million, implying fourth-quarter revenue of about $14.8 million to $16.8 million. Engel said that through Nov. 30, the company had already recognized approximately $10.5 million to $11.5 million of fourth-quarter revenue. Spire also guided to a full-year non-GAAP operating loss of negative $54.7 million to negative $53.8 million and adjusted EBITDA of negative $42.2 million to negative $41.3 million. Non-GAAP loss per share was guided to negative $1.98 to negative $1.95, assuming a basic weighted average share count of roughly 30.9 million.
Engel said remaining performance obligations were over $200 million—more than three times trailing 12-month revenue—and Spire expects about $70 million of that amount to be recognized as revenue in 2026. She said more than $10 million of revenue moved into 2026 due to government delays, including the shutdown, but stressed the programs remain funded and underway.
Based on those factors, Spire said it expects greater than 30% revenue growth in 2026 for the business remaining after the maritime divestiture, and plans to provide more comprehensive 2026 guidance on its March earnings call. Management also said it is completing its 2026 budget with a focus on reaching adjusted EBITDA and operating cash flow breakeven to positive “by no later than Q4 2026,” and indicated preliminary planning reflects lower expected capital spending next year.
On an SEC subpoena referenced during Q&A, management said it is continuing to work through the process and did not provide additional detail.
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.
