# Planet's imagery reaches agriculture, finance and data centers

Markdown copy of https://realalpha.app/s/planets-imagery-reaches-agriculture-finance-and-data-centers/ on Real Alpha, the best minutes from long interviews with the people building AI. Cite and link the page, not this copy.

- Speaker: [Will Marshall](https://realalpha.app/people/will-marshall/) · Will Marshall is cofounder and CEO of Planet Labs. · Co-founded Planet and leads its Earth-imaging satellite network, after developing low-cost spacecraft at NASA/USRA.
- Host: [Molly O'Shea](https://realalpha.app/people/molly-oshea/) · Founder, Sourcery · Ex-Upfront Ventures investor; has interviewed Alex Karp and Palmer Luckey.
- Show: Sourcery
- Episode: [Planet Labs CEO: Why AI Data Centers Will Move to Space](https://realalpha.app/v/llGHpPbCtHo/), Nov 5, 2026
- Moment: 8:28 to 10:31 of the episode (2 min), playing on https://realalpha.app/s/planets-imagery-reaches-agriculture-finance-and-data-centers/; the episode from there: https://realalpha.app/v/llGHpPbCtHo/?t=508

## Quote

> “some of the hedge funds like to work with us to **get alpha on stocks** and commodities around the planet.”
> — [Will Marshall](https://realalpha.app/people/will-marshall/) at [9:24](https://realalpha.app/v/llGHpPbCtHo/?t=564) · Sourcery

## Takeaways

1. John Deere, Bayer and BASF use imagery to improve crop yields.
2. Hedge funds use Planet data to track crops and commodities.
3. Hyperscalers monitor their own and competitors' data-center construction.

## About this segment

Will Marshall cites agriculture customers, hedge funds and hyperscalers tracking rival data-center builds. The range shows how one global image feed can serve very different commercial buyers.

From “Planet Labs CEO: Why AI Data Centers Will Move to Space”, Nov 5, 2026. [Watch the full episode](https://realalpha.app/v/llGHpPbCtHo/)

## Transcript

Transcribed by machine (Whisper) from the episode’s audio, so a word may be off here and there.

[8:34](https://realalpha.app/v/llGHpPbCtHo/?t=514) Is all of the demand on the defense side? No. We're seeing the strongest demand there right now. But we are seeing also a boon in commercial business and civil government business as well. So civil government is counties and states trying to use us to help stop wildfires and respond to them, or NASA using it for science and Earth system science. It's Brazil government using it to stop deforestation.

[9:06](https://realalpha.app/v/llGHpPbCtHo/?t=546) But no one can do that on their own. AI is covering all of that. Satellites and the AI enable this scale. At civil government commercial, we just are working with agriculture companies like John Deere, Bayer, BASF. We're working, and there we help them improve crop yields. We work with hedge funds. I can't tell you who, but some of the hedge funds like to work with us to get alpha on stocks and commodities around the planet.

[9:36](https://realalpha.app/v/llGHpPbCtHo/?t=576) We have a lot of understanding of crop yields around the world, a lot of understanding of infrastructure development. We've even had some of the hyperscalers around here buy our data. Why? Because they want to monitor not just their data center construction, but they want to monitor their competitors' data center construction. we have all the understanding of the data center construction all around the world, not just in the US, in China, in other places.

[9:58](https://realalpha.app/v/llGHpPbCtHo/?t=598) So we have a wide variety of applications, but it's true that defense is really what's driving the biggest boon right now. We reported a significant growth last quarter as 58% growth year on year. But I think the biggest part of that was the defense growth. So the other sectors are growing as well, but the defense piece is growing the fastest. Last year at Reagan National Defense Forum, I had an interview with Emile Michael,