According to recent company announcements, Northwood Space, a maker of critical ground infrastructure for space satellites, has announced two significant developments: a $100 million Series B funding round and a major government contract. The El Segundo, California-based company announced the funding round led by Washington D.C.-based firm Washington Harbour Partners and co-led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from Alpine Space Ventures among other investors. Simultaneously, the company secured a $49.8 million contract with the US Space Force to modernize the Satellite Control Network (SCN). CEO Bridgit Mendler described the SCN as handling "a huge variety of consequential space missions for our government," including tracking and controlling GPS satellites. The company declined to disclose its valuation but emphasized the strategic importance of both achievements in positioning Northwood as a supplier for commercial constellations and national security missions.
The latest developments represent remarkable growth velocity for a company founded in 2023. As Mendler noted during recent media discussions, the fresh capital marks an "inflection point in the business," driven by overwhelming customer demand from companies scaling into large constellations. This Series B round comes less than a year after Northwood raised $30 million in Series A funding in 2025, also co-led by Andreessen Horowitz. The company previously raised $6.3 million from Founders Fund, Andreessen Horowitz, Also Capital, and other early backers. "We get customers coming to us all the time requiring a ground solution, wanting us to help think through a ground problem with them, and we don't want there to be a resource constraint that blocks us from being able to support that mission," Mendler explained. The influx of cash will help scale production of ground systems, including strengthening supply chain capabilities and acquiring new sites to host infrastructure.
Northwood specializes in manufacturing phased array antennas and mobile ground infrastructure that increases satellites' connectivity to Earth, making smaller phased-array antenna systems meant to support or replace older systems that rely on larger dish antennas. The company designs and mass-produces phased-array ground stations, branded internally as "Portals," that communicate with satellites in low Earth orbit. As per recent reports, Mendler emphasized the company's vertically-integrated approach as a challenging but valuable strategy. "Our bet is that if we can really think about ground holistically under one roof, then that produces a ton of value for the industry," she explained. The CEO acknowledged this approach requires significant risk and capital, stating: "It's a hard thing to do. It requires a lot of risk, a lot of capital. It requires a lot of diverse skill sets to come together, to be able to really wrap your head around the entire ground [station] problem." This model addresses capacity constraints faced by companies that typically rent space from third-party providers with limited availability.
The Space Force partnership emerged following a successful October 2024 demonstration with Planet Labs, after which the Space Force's SSC approached Northwood with specific requirements. According to Mendler, while the current SCN works for today's space environment, "the network needs to be more reactive as the number of satellites in LEO grows exponentially with the rise of megaconstellations." The Space Force contract addresses critical capacity issues that the Department of Defense has faced since 2011, according to a 2023 GAO report noting that increased demand and resulting limits on system availability could compromise future missions. "They have chosen to work with us so we can increase their capacity, and support this variety of important space missions in a new and evolving way," Mendler stated. Northwood's rapid execution capabilities have been demonstrated through previous performance, with the company achieving a three-month turnaround time from contract kickoff to delivering live operational links.
According to the latest company announcements, by the end of 2026, Northwood is targeting the deployment of over 82 beams ready for operations across 18 global ground sites. The company's current "portal" sites can handle eight satellite links, with CTO Griffin Cleverly expecting that by the end of 2027, the next generation of ground stations will service 10-12 links, while the company's overall network will interact with "hundreds" of satellites. Cleverly noted that the expanded capacity will be most valuable to customers who are "scaling into large constellations, so that may be going from like one or two satellites to dozens or more." The company addresses a critical gap in the space industry where massive satellite build-outs for telecommunications, defense and climate monitoring have outpaced aging and obsolete ground equipment. Northwood positions itself as a "vertically integrated, end-to-end ground infrastructure partner" supporting everything from concept to deployment to live data delivery, with the ability to collapse timelines "from years to months, and months to days" for boundary-pushing space missions.
Northwood was co-founded in 2023 by Chief Executive Officer Bridgit Mendler, her husband and now CTO Griffin Cleverly, and Shaurya Luthra as Head of Software. Mendler brings an unusual background to the space industry as a former Disney Channel actress and platinum singer-songwriter who stepped away from acting years ago and earned advanced degrees, including a JD from Harvard Law School. As per TechStartups reports, Mendler even traced the company's origins to improvised antenna experiments during the pandemic, stating: "While everybody else was making their sourdough starters, we were building antennas out of random crap we could find at Home Depot … and receiving data from [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration] satellites." The company faces competition from established players like BlueHalo, which has a $1.4 billion deal with the US Space Force for upgrading decades-old gear with defense-focused phased array antennas. Recent funding developments position Northwood to accelerate its mission of modernizing ground-based communications infrastructure to meet growing demand from customers seeking comprehensive ground solutions for their space missions.
