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William Marshall, CEO of Planet Labs PBC, sold 134,642 shares worth approximately $2.2 million on 15 September 2026. The transaction was a mandatory sell-to-cover event where shares were withheld to satisfy tax obligations from vesting restricted stock units. Marshall retains 2,568,473 directly held shares valued at roughly $43.6 million. Planet Labs reported record second-quarter revenue of $116.1 million, representing 58% year-over-year growth. The company announced a dedicated satellite service deal with the German government on 15 September. Planet Labs operates a satellite constellation providing geospatial imagery through a cloud-native platform. Trailing twelve-month revenue reached $378.3 million, though the company posted a net loss of $359.9 million as it invests in expansion.

Applied AI this week. Companies are giving AI specific jobs: checking security cameras, helping farmers understand their records, searching satellite images, and preparing sales quotes. This edition explains how those tools work, who can use them, and what companies have reported so far. Sponsor. Spec27 helps teams validate whether agents follow policy, handle pressure, avoid unsafe actions, and behave reliably across realistic scenarios. Finding security cameras that have stopped working. A security camera cannot protect a site if it is offline or its view is blocked. AITX, a company that develops AI security systems, announced a product on September 10 designed to find those problems. Called SARA Assess, it connects to the software an organization already uses to manage its cameras. When it finds a fault, it passes the information to Circadian Risk, a platform that helps security teams assess risks across their sites. The system can flag an impaired camera and initiate a task or work order. That connects detection to a useful next step: getting the problem fixed. Customers can use it without buying AITX's own security hardware. AITX says the product is available for trials and full deployment. The announcement does not yet show how widely it has been adopted or whether it reduces security failures. Letting farmers ask questions about their own farm data. John Deere, the farm-equipment maker, introduced an AI assistant called JD on September 1. It sits inside Operations Center, Deere's platform for managing information about fields, machines, and farm operations. JD lets farmers ask questions about their own operational data. The idea is to help them get answers from records they already hold, using ordinary language instead of having to work through the data themselves. For a farmer, the potential benefit is easier access to information when deciding how to run the farm. The assistant is initially available to selected agricultural customers in the United States, with a wider rollout planned for later in 2026. Deere has not yet established in this announcement that using it improves harvests or profits. Making satellite images easier to search. Planet is a company that operates satellites and sells images and data about changes on Earth. Its customers include businesses and public agencies working in areas such as agriculture, forestry, and land management. In its September 3 earnings announcement, Planet said its AI application for searching its data archive had entered open beta - a stage in which users can try a product that is still being tested. The application lets people search in ordinary language. This could make satellite data useful to teams that do not have specialists trained to work with it. The change is in how people find information in Planet's existing archive. The announcement does not yet quantify how much time the application saves. Preparing sales quotes. AI coding tools appear in an acquisition agreement. Circle, a digital-payments company, has agreed to buy Tazapay, which helps businesses make payments across borders. An AI-related detail appears in the acquisition agreement dated September 4. The definition belongs to this particular deal; it is not a new rule for all businesses. The broader lesson is that a company can be using AI internally even when it does not sell an AI product. Looking only at the features customers see can miss how employees build and maintain the software. Wait, what? Buy dumplings, get AI credits. Some Chinese businesses are giving customers credit to use AI services, much as a credit card might award airline miles. Rest of World reported on September 4 that AI usage was being sold in telecom plans and offered as shopping rewards. One example is a credit card launched in July by Moonshot AI, the company behind the Kimi AI model, with Agricultural Bank of China and American Express. Spending earns allowances for using Kimi. A Beijing dumpling restaurant also gives diners computing credits. These allowances are often measured in tokens: small pieces of text that an AI model processes when it reads a request and generates an answer. For the customer, a token allowance amounts to a budget for using the service. The interesting change is how AI reaches people. Access can now come bundled with an ordinary purchase, without the customer first choosing a separate AI subscription. Its AI Use-Case Library collects reports of organizations putting AI to work. Its Edgar Radar tracks AI-related disclosures in documents companies file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Those filings include annual reports, announcements, and deal agreements. This edition draws on recent additions to both, from tools still being tested to reported customer results. This week's poll. Which AI result would you most like companies to report next? Last week, 510 of you voted: Which AI accountability fight will matter most? * Harm from chatbot conversations36% * Algorithmic pay and employment20% * Errors in healthcare22% * False evidence in government23% Which AI result would you most like companies to report next? Until next time, Alexis

Planet Labs (PL) stock surges 11% on strong Q2 beat fueled by defense sector growth. Key highlights. Table of Contents * Planet Labs delivered Q2 revenue of $116.1 million, surpassing Wall Street's $104.5 million forecast by a significant margin, representing 58% growth year-over-year. * The company's adjusted EBITDA reached $13.9 million, substantially exceeding the consensus expectation of $2.3 million. * Revenue from defense and intelligence clients now represents 70% of the company's total revenue, climbing from 57% in the prior year, with the segment nearly doubling to $81 million. * The company's Q3 revenue forecast of $101 million to $105 million fell short of analyst expectations of $114 million. * Shares of PL climbed approximately 11% during premarket hours Friday, reaching $20.44, recovering from Thursday's more than 8% decline before earnings. Planet Labs announced second-quarter revenue totaling $116.1 million, representing 58% year-over-year growth and easily surpassing Wall Street's $104.5 million projection. The company's adjusted EBITDA of $13.9 million significantly outperformed expectations of $2.3 million. On a non-GAAP basis, earnings per share reached 2 cents, compared to the consensus forecast calling for a 2-cent loss. This represents a comprehensive earnings beat across all major metrics. The defense and intelligence division experienced explosive growth exceeding 90% year-over-year, expanding to represent 70% of total company revenue compared to 57% during the same period last year. The segment generated approximately $81 million, nearly doubling from the previous year. The commercial segment posted growth exceeding 15%, while civil government revenue expanded by more than 5%. From a geographic perspective, the Europe, Middle East and Africa region delivered the strongest performance with revenue surging over 130%. The satellite imagery company also secured an $8 million agreement with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency for its Global Monitoring Service. Additional wins include a seven-figure European defense contract and a German government satellite-services tender valued at up to 25 million euros spanning five years. The company's backlog expanded 11% year-over-year to $815 million. Remaining performance obligations increased 9% to approximately $753 million. Management anticipates recognizing over $400 million in revenue during the next four quarters based solely on existing backlog. Third-Quarter forecast falls short. Management provided Q3 revenue guidance ranging from $101 million to $105 million, missing the $114 million analyst consensus. The company also anticipates a Q3 EBITDA loss of approximately $3.5 million, contrasting with Wall Street's projection of positive $2.5 million EBITDA. Citi analyst John Godyn indicated that a portion of the Q2 outperformance resulted from revenue pulled forward from the third quarter, accounting for some of the guidance miss. He maintained that the investment case remains "intact." Needham analyst Ryan Koontz pointed out that Q2 revenue benefited from accelerated recognition related to Sweden's inaugural sovereign satellite. When combining actual Q2 and projected Q3 revenue, year-over-year growth still stands at 42%. Annual outlook updated. Planet Labs increased the lower bound of its fiscal 2027 revenue guidance to $430 million from $425 million, while maintaining the upper end at $441 million. Current analyst consensus stands at $435.67 million. Management is aiming to achieve the Rule of 40 benchmark in fiscal 2027, measured by combining revenue growth percentage and adjusted EBITDA margin. Adjusted gross margin decreased modestly to 59% from 61% in the prior year, attributed to investments in satellite services agreements and AI-powered partner solutions. Through the first half of the fiscal year, the company produced approximately $68 million in operating cash flow. Free cash flow amounted to $21 million, while adjusted free cash flow totaled $29 million. Planet Labs closed the quarter with approximately $865 million in cash and short-term investments, and generated around $120 million through its at-the-market equity offering at an average net price of $31.95 per share. Management has identified satellite-services opportunities exceeding $4 billion in its pipeline. PL stock traded down approximately 1.25% at $18.12 at the time of publication Friday, following its more than 11% premarket surge. The stock has appreciated over 180% during the past 12 months. Limited Time Offer Get 3 free stock ebooks. Discover top-performing stocks in AI, Crypto, and Technology with expert analysis. * Top 10 AI Stocks - Leading AI companies * Top 10 Crypto Stocks - Blockchain leaders * Top 10 Tech Stocks - Tech giants