Northwood Space raises $100M Series B and wins Space Force contract to build vertically integrated satellite ground infrastructure

Summary

Northwood Space raised $100M in Series B funding and won a $49.8M Space Force contract to provide satellite ground station infrastructure. The company operates from a 35,000 square-foot manufacturing facility and has demonstrated speed by producing eight portal units in four weeks, shipping them globally, and having them operational within 12 hours of arrival.

Northwood owns the entire ground-to-satellite stack including hardware, modems, network backhaul, software interfaces, APIs, and control planes. This eliminates the need for satellite operators to work with fragmented vendors, negotiate land leases, and navigate regulatory complexity across multiple countries. Co-founder Bridgit Mendler says the model frees space companies from ground infrastructure so they can focus on their missions.

The Space Force contract supplies additional ground capacity to existing live satellites. Northwood provides API-level access, letting operators plug into the network without redesigning their spacecraft or mission architecture. This approach works for operators with decades-old satellites as well as new launches.

Ground infrastructure often takes longer to deploy than building and launching the spacecraft itself. Northwood's vertical integration lets them design around supply chain constraints, licensing delays, and regulatory approvals at each stage. The company now operates entities across three to four continents and is expanding into multiple additional countries.

The Series B will fund in-house PCB manufacturing, upgraded testing fixtures and anechoic chambers, and a larger facility. Northwood targets 12 units per month for one product line, with separate volume targets for another product. Customer demand is driving the expansion. Satellites are entering orbit at an accelerating pace, and Northwood needs capacity to service diverse missions including dynamic spacecraft movement across orbits, communications constellations, and imaging systems.

Regulatory work spans the FCC domestically, NASA for certain inputs, and the International Telecommunications Union for cross-border spectrum issues. Mendler views regulatory compliance as a competitive advantage rather than a burden.