Bridgit Mendler-led Northwood Space now valued at $2B
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Northwood Space raised $375 million in a Series C funding that valued the Torrance, California-based satellite antenna builder and ground station provider at $2 billion.
Why it matters: Modern and fortified infrastructure on Earth becomes more crucial for commercial, civil and military missions as the number of satellites in orbit swells.
- There were just shy of 3,500 operational satellites in 2020. Today, that number has skyrocketed to more than 17,000, per the American Enterprise Institute's space data.
- "Without modern infrastructure, the ground will limit what we can do in space, from satellite communications to Earth observation, from national security missions to cislunar exploration," the company said in a Monday release.
Follow the money: Andreessen Horowitz and DFJ Growth led the financing.
- Alpine Space Ventures, Washington Harbour Partners, Stepstone Activate and In-Q-Tel (IQT) also participated.
- Northwood also secured a multi-year credit facility from HSBC Innovation Banking.
Catch up quick: In February, Northwood raised $100 million in Series B funding and announced a nearly $50 million Space Force contract for the service's worldwide satellite control newtowork.
- The firm has 140 employees and plans to add 400 more between Washington, D.C. and Torrance, California.
What they're saying: "This funding lets us scale ... build the infrastructure the next generation of space missions will depend on," said Bridgit Mendler, Northwood's CEO and a former Disney actress.
