Northwood Space Scores $100M Series B and $50M Space Force Deal, Revolutionizing Satellite Ground Stations

Northwood Space, an innovative El Segundo-based startup revolutionizing satellite ground communications, announced two landmark achievements on January 27, 2026: a $100 million Series B funding round and a $49.8 million contract from the United States Space Force. These developments highlight the company’s explosive growth amid a rapidly expanding space industry, where declining launch costs are flooding orbits with new satellites and intensifying demand for efficient ground infrastructure.

Company Origins and Leadership

Northwood Space was founded in 2022 by Bridgit Mendler, Griffin Cleverly, and Shaurya Luthra, emerging from stealth mode in early 2024. Headquartered in El Segundo, California—a hub for aerospace innovation—the company has quickly positioned itself as a leader in modernizing ground station technology. Mendler, the CEO, brings a distinctive background as a former Disney performer who transitioned into engineering and law before diving into hard tech entrepreneurship. Her vision emphasizes vertical integration: designing, manufacturing, and deploying advanced systems under one roof to solve longstanding bottlenecks in satellite data transmission.

The team’s technical prowess, led by CTO Griffin Cleverly, focuses on phased-array antennas—compact, electronically steered systems that outperform traditional large dish antennas. Early demonstrations in 2024 connected Northwood’s prototypes to Planet’s satellites, proving real-world viability. This success fueled a $6.3 million seed round from top-tier investors like Founders Fund and Andreessen Horowitz, followed by a $30 million Series A in spring 2025. Just nine months later, the Series B underscores Northwood’s remarkable trajectory for a four-year-old venture.

Details of the Series B Funding

The $100 million Series B was led by Washington Harbour Partners, a D.C.-based firm specializing in space and defense investments, and co-led by Andreessen Horowitz, which has doubled down on Northwood’s potential. Other participants include Alpine Space Ventures, building on their Series A involvement. Mendler described the rapid fundraising—two major rounds in one year—as an “inflection point,” driven by overwhelming customer demand and readiness in production capabilities.

This capital will supercharge network expansion. Northwood’s current “portal” sites, modular ground stations, each handle eight simultaneous satellite links. By late 2027, next-generation versions aim for 10-12 links per site, scaling the overall network to track and communicate with hundreds of satellites. The funding addresses a core pain point: smaller operators scaling from a handful of satellites to full constellations often face capacity shortages from legacy providers. Northwood’s model offers reliable, on-demand access, preventing mission delays in an era of mega-constellations from players like SpaceX and Amazon.

Mendler stressed responsible scaling: “We get customers coming to us all the time… we don’t want resource constraints to block us from supporting that mission.” The infusion enables hiring across engineering, manufacturing, and operations, while accelerating deployment of resilient infrastructure tailored for high-data-volume applications.

The Space Force Contract Breakthrough

In parallel, Northwood secured a $49.8 million, three-year contract to upgrade the U.S. Space Force’s Satellite Control Network (SCN). This legacy system oversees critical operations, including GPS satellite tracking, post-launch maneuvering, and recovery of distressed spacecraft. The deal validates Northwood’s technology for national security missions, where reliability is non-negotiable.

The SCN’s challenges are well-documented, with capacity strains noted since 2011. Surging satellite numbers—fueled by cheaper rides to orbit—have pushed the system to its limits, risking mission compromises. Northwood’s phased-array portals provide a modern alternative: smaller footprints, faster beam steering, and higher throughput without mechanical parts prone to failure. Mendler highlighted the SCN’s role in “a huge variety of consequential space missions,” positioning the contract as a gateway to broader defense partnerships.

This dual commercial-government win mirrors trends in space tech, where startups like SpaceX have transitioned from private innovation to indispensable government contractors. For Northwood, it offers stable revenue to complement volatile commercial markets.

Core Technology and Competitive Edge

Northwood’s innovation lies in its end-to-end approach to ground stations. Traditional systems rely on bulky parabolic dishes fixed on geostationary satellites, ill-suited for dynamic low-Earth orbit (LEO) networks that zip across the sky. Phased arrays use thousands of tiny elements to electronically direct beams, enabling seamless handoffs and low-latency data downlinks.

“It’s a hard thing to do,” Mendler noted, requiring massive risk, capital, and cross-disciplinary expertise—from RF engineering to software-defined radios. By controlling the full stack, Northwood slashes costs and deployment times, creating “a ton of value for the industry.” Current portals excel in bandwidth-heavy tasks like Earth observation and broadband; future upgrades will handle exploding data from AI-driven satellite swarms.

Competitively, Northwood differentiates from incumbents like Viasat or Kratos through agility and scale. While giants build proprietary networks, mid-tier operators need flexible partners. Northwood fills this gap, targeting firms graduating from prototypes to operational fleets.

Broader Market Dynamics

Space is more crowded than ever. Launch prices have plummeted—SpaceX‘s Falcon 9 delivers payloads for under $3,000 per kilogram—spurring constellations for internet, imaging, and sensing. Yet ground infrastructure lags: legacy networks can’t keep pace with LEO’s demands for global, frequent contacts.

Investor fervor reflects this. 2025-2026 marked a boom in “dual-use” tech—commercial innovations adaptable for defense—amid geopolitical tensions and U.S. priorities under President Trump’s second term. Washington Harbour’s lead signals Beltway buy-in, while a16z eyes trillion-dollar space economies.

Challenges remain: phased arrays demand precision fabrication, and regulatory hurdles like spectrum allocation persist. Site acquisition for global coverage adds logistics hurdles. Still, Northwood’s early traction—commercial pilots plus government endorsement—de-risks execution.

Strategic Roadmap and Industry Impact

These milestones propel Northwood toward dominance. Short-term, funds ramp production for dozens of new sites, onboarding diverse customers from telecom to defense. Long-term, the network becomes a backbone for hybrid missions, blending public and private assets.

Mendler’s holistic philosophy—”thinking about ground under one roof”—could standardize infrastructure, much like cloud computing transformed IT. Success unlocks adjacencies: edge computing in space, secure backhaul for hypersonics, or AI-optimized routing.

Publicity amplifies momentum. Mendler’s CNBC interview and TechCrunch Disrupt presence draw talent and partners, fueling a virtuous cycle.

Conclusion

Northwood Space’s $100 million Series B and $49.8 million Space Force contract are pivotal, catapulting a young startup into the vanguard of space communications. Led by Bridgit Mendler’s bold vision, the company’s phased-array revolution addresses orbital congestion’s ground truth: without modern backhaul, satellite proliferation stalls.

As data flows skyward explode, Northwood’s scalable, resilient portals promise unconstrained connectivity for commercial scalers and national security alike. This isn’t just funding—it’s a bet on rearchitecting the $10+ billion ground station market. With proven tech, elite backers, and dual-track validation, Northwood is primed to deliver enduring value, powering the next era of humanity’s space ambitions.