{"title":"iQPS vs Spire Global: Earth observation compared","url":"https://www.frontiertechintelligence.com/compare/iqps-vs-spire-global","comparison":"iQPS ranks 47 on the Space 100 with a score of 75; Spire Global ranks 84 with 66. iQPS is ahead on deployment, positioning, firepower and leverage. Spire Global is ahead on commercials. Level on production, progress and technology. iQPS is based in Fukuoka, Japan, Spire Global in Vienna, United States. iQPS: Public. iQPS is named in 32 signals and Spire Global in 106.","companies":[{"name":"iQPS","url":"https://www.frontiertechintelligence.com/companies/iqps","city":"Fukuoka","country":"Japan","stage":"Public","founded":null,"last_round":null,"positioning":"iQPS is a Japanese SAR operator (TSE-listed) running the QPS-SAR constellation (8+ satellites under JSAT operations contracts, QPS-SAR-15 first-light images in January 2026), which raised a JPY 15.2B PIPE in March 2026 (SKY Perfect JSAT, Mitsui Sumitomo taking 18.23%) for mass production and launches. It is a member of the winning Japanese MoD Satellite Constellation Project consortium (December 2025), the sovereign-SAR national team, carrying the same MoD-dependency flag as Synspective. Revenue is estimated at 10-100m class.","assessed_in":{"domain":"Space","list":"Space 100","rank":47,"score":75,"tier":"member","scores":{"gate_ne":["firepower"],"leverage":8,"position":8,"progress":9,"firepower":8,"commercial":4,"deployment":9,"production":6,"technology":6},"why":"iQPS operates the QPS-SAR constellation of small radar satellites, providing day-and-night Earth observation imagery with little sensitivity to cloud cover.","segment":"Earth observation","layer":"Satellites & spacecraft"},"signals_total":32,"facts_total":39},{"name":"Spire Global","url":"https://www.frontiertechintelligence.com/companies/spire-global","city":"Vienna","country":"United States","stage":null,"founded":null,"last_round":null,"positioning":"Spire Global is a US operator of a multi-payload nanosatellite constellation for RF sensing (weather, AIS, ADS-B) plus a space-services model building satellites for others, having reset its balance sheet by selling its maritime business to Kpler (~$241M, 2025) and now forecasting ~50% revenue growth in 2026. Its European pivot has a humanoid-list crossover: Schaeffler (which tops the Humanoids list) and Diehl are named partners in its German manufacturing expansion. Post-divestiture revenue is estimated at 10-100m.","assessed_in":{"domain":"Space","list":"Space 100","rank":84,"score":66,"tier":"member","scores":{"gate_ne":["firepower"],"leverage":6,"position":6,"progress":9,"firepower":6,"commercial":6,"deployment":8,"production":6,"technology":6},"why":"Spire sells satellite-driven weather intelligence through AI-WX, AI-S2S, APIs and Cirrus, serving energy, agriculture, logistics, insurance, finance and government customers.","segment":"Earth observation","layer":"Satellites & spacecraft"},"signals_total":106,"facts_total":114}],"note":"Assessment by Frontier Tech Intelligence; facts and signals carry their sources."}