The space economy is entering a new era of growth as falling launch costs and advances in spacecraft expand what’s possible in orbit. But what we put up in space is just part of the equation. Nearly all 17,000 satellites in orbit require a ground network to communicate and deliver the data that make their missions valuable. The ground layer is essential, yet it has been overlooked for decades, with little innovation to match space-based advances. As the scale and sophistication of satellite constellations have surged, the ground networks supporting them have fallen behind. Northwood Space is reinventing these critical systems, building a global ground network designed for the speed, scale, and performance that modern space operations demand.
We are thrilled to co-lead Northwood’s $375 million Series C and partner with CEO Bridgit Mendler and the entire Northwood team as they build this vital foundation for the space economy.
Ground infrastructure has long received less attention and resources than launch vehicles and spacecraft. Historically, much of it was built for individual missions, often communicating with one satellite at a time. Today, operators need to command larger constellations, maneuver spacecraft across orbits, and deliver far more data with much higher throughput. However, for the ground systems, satellite operators are often forced to rely on decades-old infrastructure, assemble bespoke systems from multiple vendors, or divert resources to build networks of their own. Adding capacity can take years, leaving increasingly sophisticated spacecraft constrained by the systems supporting them on Earth.
Northwood is redefining the ground segment. Rather than custom builds, Northwood’s network is designed around standardized, modular hardware to enable rapid manufacture and deployment of advanced antenna and network technology at scale. By vertically integrating, from advanced modular antennas and geographically diverse sites to modern control software, Northwood can bring a new site online in weeks rather than years. The same hardware can serve commercial and government missions, allowing both to benefit from common infrastructure.
Northwood’s initial systems incorporate two complementary antenna configurations. Portal is a high-power phased array with electronic beam steering, enabling communication with multiple satellites simultaneously across different orbits. It provides the responsive spacecraft control needed to support the dynamic space operation demands of national security missions. Prism, a compact parabolic antenna, handles the high volumes of data generated by modern sensing and communications systems, expected to include a new generation of high-bandwidth in-orbit data centers for global AI compute services. Developing the software, firmware, modems, and networking components in-house allows Northwood to optimize performance across the entire system. The result is a robust network architecture that enables operators to coordinate more assets, execute more dynamic missions, and move more data faster.
Northwood’s vision is becoming reality at remarkable speed. Its rapidly expanding network now spans six sites across two continents. A new 185,000-square-foot factory increases manufacturing capacity by 500% to support the scaling required to fulfill explosive customer demand, including a $50 million contract with the US Space Force to modernize its legacy Satellite Control Network.
Teaming up with Northwood builds on DFJ Growth’s two-decade commitment to partnering with founders whose vision strengthens American resilience through technological advancement and reindustrialization, a strategy reflected in our investments in Anduril, Impulse Space, Saronic, SpaceX, and Tesla, among others.
Northwood is positioned to redefine its industry by modernizing the ground layer of the new space economy.
We couldn’t be more energized to join Bridgit and the Northwood team as they lead us into a new era that leverages and enhances the full capabilities of modern space-based systems.
