SpaceX to acquire small satellite startup Swarm Technologies

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is acquiring the small-satellite data provider Swarm Technologies, scooping up the startup’s roughly 30 employees and its network of 120 tiny satellites. The deal is extremely rare for SpaceX, which normally manufactures its rocket and satellite hardware in-house or hires subcontractors. SpaceX continues to foray into the world of consumer electronics and claws its way out of a chasm of unprofitability with Starlink, with the hopes of eventually turning the network into a cash cow to fund Musk’s massive Starship launch system. Founded in 2016, Swarm offers ultra low-bandwidth data services using its tiny sandwich-sized SpaceBEE satellites that talk to smaller consumer antennas on the ground called “Tiles.” With GPS built in, devices with a tile installed can be tracked, relay sensor data, or do whatever the customer programs it to do using tiny pings of bandwidth to Swarm’s global satellite network starting at $5 a month. SpaceX’s much different Starlink program aims to beam broadband internet into rural areas that lack fiber or physical internet connections. The company already has more than 1,700 of its initial tranche of 4,409 satellites in low-Earth orbit with nearly 100,000 beta users, most of whom paid $499 for a terminal kit and $99 a month for internet.