Space is an increasingly crowded place thanks to the constant influx of new satellites, and it is only going to get more cramped as the cost to reach orbit falls. These dynamics have brought attention to the startup Northwood Space, which has spent the last few years developing more modern and efficient ground-based communications infrastructure. The startup capitalized on that interest in two significant ways this week.
The El Segundo, California-based company announced on Tuesday it has closed a $100 million Series B funding round. The round was led by Washington D.C.-based firm Washington Harbour Partners and co-led by Andreessen Horowitz.
Northwood has also secured a $49.8 million contract with the United States Space Force to help upgrade what is known as the satellite control network. This network handles a huge variety of consequential space missions for the government, including tracking and controlling GPS satellites, according to founder and CEO Bridgit Mendler.
The funding round and government contract are major milestones for the company, which is just a few years old and only closed its $30 million Series A less than a year ago. With so much current interest in funding space tech, hard tech, and defense tech, Mendler said this was an opportunity for her company to grow responsibly and quickly. She acknowledged that raising two large funding rounds in the same year is happening faster than anticipated, but pointed out that the company is ready for this pace from a production standpoint.
Mendler said the fresh capital will help Northwood keep pace with growing demand, marking an inflection point in the business. The resources were intentionally brought on to support the missions that customers are bringing forward, ensuring that resource constraints do not block the company from supporting critical ground solutions.
Part of the attention on Northwood relates to the novelty of its work. The company makes smaller phased-array antenna systems meant to support or replace older systems that rely on larger dish antennas. This is a vertically-integrated undertaking. Mendler emphasized that it is a hard thing to do, requiring significant risk, capital, and diverse skill sets to wrap your head around the entire ground station problem. The company’s bet is that thinking about ground infrastructure holistically under one roof produces tremendous value for the industry.
This pitch has resonated with prospective commercial customers. While companies like SpaceX and Amazon, which have massive satellite internet networks, build and operate their own ground stations, capacity is constrained for other players. These players typically must rent space from third-party providers that may not always have availability.
Northwood CTO Griffin Cleverly expects the expanded capacity from the new fundraising will be most valuable to customers who are scaling into large constellations, moving from one or two satellites to dozens or more. Currently, Northwood’s portal sites can handle eight satellite links. By the end of 2027, Cleverly expects the next generation of the company’s ground stations to handle 10 to 12 links, with the overall network capable of communicating with hundreds of satellites.
With the Space Force contract, what Northwood is selling has clearly become an attractive option for the government. It is not surprising the newest armed forces branch is starting with the satellite control network. A 2023 Government Accountability Office report noted that the Department of Defense has been aware of capacity issues with the network since 2011. The report stated that satellite users who rely on the network said that increased demand and resulting limits on system availability could compromise their missions in the future.