By Keerthi Ramesh
A space technology startup Northwood Space announced Tuesday it has closed a $100 million Series B funding round and secured a nearly $50 million contract with the U.S. Space Force, marking a rapid escalation in the company’s rise as a provider of next-generation satellite ground infrastructure.
The Series B round was led by Washington Harbor Partners and co-led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from a broad group of venture investors. The company also announced that the contract with the U.S. Space Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center will support upgrades to the Satellite Control Network, a critical system that tracks and controls global U.S. military and civilian satellites.
“Interest in space tech funding is surging, and Northwood is poised to help modernize an infrastructure that has lagged as satellite missions have multiplied,” said CEO Bridgit Mendler, who founded the company in 2022. “This is an inflection point for us and for the industry” she said.
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Northwood Space designs and manufactures ground station systems, the terrestrial hubs that communicate with satellites, simply put, it deploys antennae systems, which are smaller than older models, that allow Earth to communicate with satellites in space, using compact, phased-array antenna technology that can be deployed more quickly and flexibly than traditionally large dish antennas.
These systems marketed internally as “Portals,” aim to help satellite operators download and transmit data more reliably as orbital traffic grows.
Where traditional satellite ground infrastructure can take months or years to build, Northwood’s hardware and networking stack are designed to scale in weeks, a feature the company says will help its customers keep pace with increasing global demand. The Series B funds are intended for expanding production capacity, accelerating deployments of its network, and funding long-term research and development.
Northwood’s growth has been swift.
After a $30 million Series A round less than a year ago, the company has already deployed phased-array units across continents and plans to significantly boost output of its antenna systems in the coming year.
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The founder and CEO of the company, Bridgit Mendler’s journey of being an entertainer to becoming a space entrepreneur is unconventional. Best known earlier in her career for roles on Disney Channel series such as “Good Luck Charlie,” Mendler left acting to pursue intensive academic training and eventually entered the technology world. She holds advanced degrees, including from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard Law School, and previously worked in space policy at the Federal Communications Commission’s Space Bureau.
Mendler co-founded Northwood with her husband and two technical partners, focusing on a long-neglected but essential part of the space economy which is the ground stations that connect orbiting hardware with Earth. “Space matters because it helps people on the ground,” she has said in past interviews about the company’s mission.
The new funding and government deal positions Northwood Space at a critical moment as the industry struggles with congested orbit paths and growing reliance on satellite data for everything from communications to climate monitoring. With fresh capital and a high-profile contract under its belt, the company aims to push the pace of innovation in a sector many see as vital to both commercial and national security interests.