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

Not copy pasted, but clearly it's like an AI that's just like

responding

and it's just loosely riffing on it, adding engagement. This isn't that. It's this.

No, no, no. It's it's happening more and more. Uh anyway, let's move on. We have Bridget Mendler from Northwood Space. She's the co-founder and CEO returning to the show. It's been just under a year, but she's back. Bridget, great to see you. How are you doing

in a much bigger facility?

Yeah. What's going on over at Northwood? Break it down for us.

Um, it's it's good. We are um Sorry, we just turned on we just started blasting 80s music in the office.

But we're good. This is the this is being on the manufacturing floor lifestyle at Northwood.

Um, and yeah, we are uh announcing our series B fundraising. How much did you raise?

$100 million.

Even

Nice. Nice round number.

Not a scent more, not a scent less.

And some other some other numbers, too.

Yes.

Yes. Some other numbers. Yeah.

More importantly,

we That's right. Exactly. Customer is key. We um we raised 49.8 uh in a contract with the Sorry, I'm getting a little bit of background noise. Um but yeah,

million dollar contract with the space force.

Congratulations. That is amazing. Uh talk about the actual progress. I mean I remember hearing about this from Delian when it was like just a an idea and then and then I think I saw a video maybe with Jason Karman. The first deployment you were building this like what is the scale of the deployment? How are I mean you're in a manufacturing space? How many people are working there? How many of these things are you building? Explain this to us.

Yeah. Yeah. We we're at our 35,000 foot manufacturing facility now. I think we we moved in here thinking this was going to be a long-term home for us, but as I'm sure a bunch of these companies say, it fills up really fast.

Um we have have had a busy year. It's been a year of, you know, going from early concept uh with some exciting problems that we were looking to solve on the ground side. We're looking to address uh scaling up communications to a bunch of different orbits, really pushing the boundaries on where you can take dynamic space capabilities. Uh our phase array was really well aligned with that. So we uh kind of built out the solution and we took it through to uh deployment. We can successfully say that now we have uh actually done production on eight portal units. Um they were produced in this factory in the span of four weeks. um we shipped them out actually got shipped out on a commercial airliner um to its destination halfway around the world and uh was up and running um as soon as it hit the site within 12 hours. So um

all in all uh from the time of our contract signature to actually being ready to take satellite passes is a three-month time period. So um we're we're excited by that milestone. and walk me through sort of like the uh like I've seen these memes uh of like you you ask a question on Google and it takes you through like you know you go through the fiber optic cable, you go to the base station, you go to cell tower like walk me through the actual you know use case from someone trying to use the internet and then interfacing like Northwood is in the chain somewhere like what is the full chain? No, that's a really great question because a lot of the ground equation has been kind of these fragmented pieces, right? Like I can imagine it's it's confusing. It's like, oh, there's this one piece of hardware, whether it's a phase array or a parabolic or whatever. Uh, how does that fit in with, you know, me making use of internet through space? Yeah. And the real the real point for us is that

we are saying space companies shouldn't have to consider the ground equation when they're running their own business. they shouldn't be trying to navigate, you know, land leases uh in all of these countries around the world to make contact with their spacecraft. What Northwood does is we we own the entire stack. So, we handle from the moment that there's a contact made with the spacecraft all the way to uh the the point of presence somewhere around the world that a spacecraft operator has themselves hosted. uh that that entire chain. So that includes hardware, that includes modem, that includes network back hall, that includes uh software interfaces, APIs, um and the actual control plane for moving that data. Um that's kind of a a stack end to end on ground that hasn't been managed by a third party ground provider before. And so that's what gets us excited because when we take on that big that big chunk of the pie, we actually free up a lot of mental bandwidth and uh and speed for space companies. So, for a space company, they're putting a satellite in orbit for some reason, whatever they're doing. Um, when are they calling you? When are they making sure that they're compatible or ready to integrate? Is that presumably before launch, but does it need do they need to do anything special on the actual facility?

Hopefully, they're not calling after their existing solution.

We just took off and I'm hoping you can connect us.

Help us make contact. Yeah, it's kind of like when you move into an apartment, then you call Spectrum like after and you're like, I don't have internet for two weeks.

Yeah, like here we are. Um, contact list. But no, I mean that that's a little bit like the situation with the satellite control network with US government right now.

These are for satellites that are already live and operating. That's what our contract is against. Um, it ranges for a ton of functions. So launch uh every launch that takes place in the US um runs through the facility is big because your team is scootering around.

Scootering around. It is big. You weren't lying about 35,000 ft.

We have a lot of passion for our scooters here. Uh very

nice smooth floors. Anyway, sorry.

It's it's a great ride. Um but yeah so so uh it serves a ton of a ton of missions and more missions are getting launched every day and so that puts additional strain on capacity. So for us uh you know for instance in that contract they're calling saying hey we need more capacity. We are uh needing you to plug in with where we route our data. So we we just hand them an API and that's how they interface with it.

Yeah.

Um so they can just connect with the API. satellites keep doing what they have been doing sometimes for decades.

Yeah.

Um and then when their new satellites launch, they can also use that same interface. So trying to make it as clean and simple as possible.

Yeah. What is your what is your pipeline look like? Like I imagine I imagine you're you're talking to a bunch of companies that are uh planning to get you know various satellites up in on the one year, two-year, threeyear like how many like are you feeling like an acceleration is kind of what I'm getting at in terms of like more mass to orbit?

Yes, big time. Uh we do get a lot of customer inbound and I think like that's a large part of our raise for us. It's like, hey, we need to be able to expand and grow so that we can service all these important missions. Uh, I think an important piece of our passion for what we do is around serving diverse and ambitious missions. So, a lot of our missions look pretty different. So, for for our recent capability we're working on with Space Systems Command, that looks like dynamic spacecraft movement, you know, being able to hit multiple different orbits and and those kinds of capabilities. Um, there are also communications constellations where, you know, they they have more of that networking backhole use case that I I described to you. Uh, there's other ones that we work with that are more interested in timely imagery. Uh, and so for us, what makes us excited is being the ground expert that thinks about that with them from, you know, some of those conversations we have are extremely early where like we're we're asking them questions and and learning about their system and and they'll say, you know, we haven't thought that far yet. Um, and so we get to be the partner from that very early stage to bringing the the constellation online. Um, and really being the one that holds the accountability for that. So we get excited by kind of the diversity of the space industry. I'm sure you know you guys are hearing about all the different use cases even that popped up this past year. We're talking about the moon or you know data center

data center some some space data center players are probably calling you being like hey in 10 years I'm going to have a lot of GPUs in space. Yeah,

but you know, let's let's condense that timeline. Let's condense that timeline on on all of the ideas like you know why why not space uh is an exciting frontier to push forward on.

Yeah. What what else are you are are you tracking in launch costs uh actual cost of mass to orbit that feels like a key barometer for the health of the space industry broadly. Is that progressing according to your thesis when you started the company? Are you ahead of plan? Obviously, it doesn't doesn't directly matter for what you do, but obviously it does in many ways because you know you're downstream of that entire economy. Is that the right even metric to be looking at if you're monitoring the space economy?

I mean, I think the economics of space have been something that have been challenging historically. You know, you need to be able to make a profitable business off of space. And so I think there's been a number of dominoes that have fallen in favor of that whether that be uh improved launch costs and you know dropping to to new levels in that and and other pieces of the space infrastructure stack. I think you know what we're building we're also also interested in in making that more affordable. Um I think the proof is kind of just in the dreams that people are dreaming up and actually putting real dollars behind now.

Um so you know it's it's one thing to talk about some ambitious space concept. It's another thing to put like real dollars behind it and a real timeline against it. Uh and so for us like that's that's what we want to enable is that like concept to reality timeline like condensing that making that more possible. Surprisingly the ground actually takes longer to build than it does to build the spacecraft and launch it in a number of different instances. And so that's just silly like

let's let's be the enabler instead.

Yeah. Can you help me understand uh deploying ground stations globally? Are there treaties for this type of thing? Do you call other governments? Are you active in other countries? Like I I imagine that, you know, there are obviously some I guess like geostationary orbits that just orbit over the US, but if the my satellites on the other side of the earth, I probably want to talk to it. Uh how do you solve that? What's involved? What's the roll out like?

No, totally. Um we we have an entity in uh a number of different countries. Um so uh yeah we have entities on I think like three or four continents at this point. Um so you basically need to establish the business there. You need to work with the local governments across a bunch of different dimensions. Uh I think personally that's something that I think is uh really exciting to support with the space industry right like a lot of countries are really passionate about pushing their space capabilities forward. Uh and so for us to be able to have them be a part of a larger mission as we build out our our big network um but also to support what their ambitions are uh with space is something I feel interested in. And then from a logistics standpoint, I think that's like a key case in point for why if you set out to build a space mission, why do you have to go, you know, create entities,

land leases, local regulatory? Um it's just a totally different business. uh and and so I think you know that's something that we are very happy to be burdened by.

Yeah. On the uh on the regulatory side, are you interfacing with NASA or the FCC? What does that look like? And then does that uh does the regulatory architecture that's put in place in the US sort of carry forward into other countries?

Yeah, that's a great question. There there's some pieces of it that do uh cross over internationally. We deal with the International Telecommunications Union um for certain pieces of it. Depends on which direction you're talking about from space to ground or ground to space.

Uh and then the FCC is is really the main regulatory body domestically, but

they need input from NASA. They need input from a bunch of other government stakeholders. Um so a lot of folks weigh in when it comes to spectrum, which is uh you know, for nerdy folks like me, that's kind of interesting.

Yeah. What is uh what is the main bottleneck if anything? It's it's surprising to hear some of the some of the timelines you're talking about on the hardware side. You said four weeks.

Yeah.

To to to make and and ship out the hardware and get it in production feels fast. What what is like where are you trying to speed up?

Ground is like such a multivariable problem. Um it comes down to supply chain for sure. It comes down to deployment like what is actually efficient and easy to ship to anywhere around the world. um it comes down to licensing and a whole host of other regulatory approvals. So for us like that's why we find that it's really useful to be vertically integrated because we can actually think of those constraints at every different piece along the chain. Um so you know when we when we see a bottleneck like hey there's this supply chain limitation we get to design around that uh and think about how that fits into um the overall system. So, I think we've we've been coordinating all of those pieces well so far. Um, you know, new challenges are going to continue to pop up. But, um, I think that comes down to just having a team that is, um, multi-disiplinary.

Yeah. I want to know more about the use of funding, a hund00 million fund raise. Uh, obviously more hiring and and and more acceleration broadly, but uh, is are there any like pieces of equipment that you're going to be buying for manufacturing? Is there a like a robotic arm that you've been hovering over the checkout button and now you're clicking it or a CNC machine like like what what will what will transform about the actual manufacturing process with this race?

Yeah, like getting concrete. Um

there we go.

Yeah, I I think well actually that's that's interesting. Um

literally buy concrete. Maybe

old old space old ground companies do need to buy a ton of concrete.

Yeah, because the pad right that you actually put it on, right?

Exactly. You have settling time. just let the concrete dry. That's a whole factor in the equation. Um but but yeah, uh for us it's really about a new scale of production. So, you know, we we've demonstrated this end toend process for smaller scale missions. Now, it's okay,

cool, can you do that at at a larger scale reliably? Um and so that comes down to like you said, bringing some stuff in house. Yeah.

So, that's that's our our PCB line for instance. That's something that we're interested in bringing in house. Um, we have different testing fixtures that we have in house. We have a a big anooic chamber over here.

Oh, yeah. Um,

so um,

good podcast studio, too.

Right. Isn't it like dead quiet in there?

It's true. It is.

It's kind of Yeah, I'm tempted to show you, but anyway.

It'll probably cut the Wi-Fi out, right?

Exactly. It would cut the Wi-Fi out. Um,

the audio quality be great, but we lose connection. So,

pristine. Um, but yeah, we're we're going to be moving into a bigger space as well so that we can, you know, accommodate more production volume. Also, inventory, you know, like this this stuff takes up a lot of space, uh, a lot of hardware. We're we're moving it through rapidly. We're looking to hit a rate of, uh, 12 units per month, um, for one product line and then another volume for another product line. Um,

very good news.

There you go. Um, so yeah, that that's, uh, some of the expenses.

Amazing. Well, thank you so much for taking the time.

Fantastic. Come with us. Yeah. remarkable progress in in under a year. I can't wait for the next one. Uh we will see you soon.

Yeah. Congrats to the whole rest of your day. Very cool to chat. Good to see you.

Have a good rest of your day.

Cheers.

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