Disney Actress-Turned-CEO Raises $100 Million for Space Firm
(Bloomberg) — Northwood, a maker of critical ground infrastructure for space satellites, raised $100 million in a new round of financing co-led by Washington Harbor Partners and Andreessen Horowitz.
The money will be used to help Northwood expand manufacturing and production and support space missions that need to happen on tight timelines, the startup said Tuesday. The company refused to give its valuation.
Southern California-based Northwood manufactures phased array antennas, mobile ground infrastructure that enhances satellites’ connectivity to Earth. While large numbers of satellites are being built for telecommunications, defense and climate monitoring, the equipment used to control and communicate with them is aging and becoming obsolete.
Northwood is a founding partner and is led by Chief Executive Officer Bridgit Mendler. She is a former Disney Channel actress and platinum singer-songwriter.
“Northwood provides the only viable approach that can scale ground station capacity to match the expected satellite proliferation with the required speed and security,” Mina Faltas, founder and CEO of Washington Harbor Partners, said in an email.
The latest round comes less than a year after Northwood raised $30 million in funding also led by Andreessen Horowitz. Additionally, the startup has secured a $49.8 million contract from the U.S. Space Force for launches as well as recovery of lost or downed satellites.
“At this point there was a three-month turnaround time from the inception of the contract to having the connections live in the field,” Mendler said in an interview on Bloomberg Television on Tuesday.
Founded in 2022, Northwood isn’t the only company focused on ground infrastructure. BlueHalo, for example, has a $1.4 billion agreement with the U.S. Space Force to upgrade its decades-old hardware with its own defense-focused, steerable, phased-array antennas.
Northwood is talking to Elon Musk’s SpaceX and other private space industry players about supporting satellite networks, Mendler said.
“We have seen significant interest from government use cases as well as commercial uses,” Mendler said. “The passion and challenge for space continues to grow.”
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