Northwood Space raises $375M Series C at $2B valuation to scale multi-orbit ground network
Torrance-based Northwood Space closed a confirmed $375 million Series C co-led by a16z and DFJ Growth at a $2 billion valuation, funding a shared multi-orbit ground-station network for commercial and U.S. government customers.
Northwood Space Corp. said on November 2, 2026 that it has closed a $375 million Series C valuing the Torrance, California ground-network builder at $2 billion (confirmed, Northwood). Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and DFJ Growth co-led the round; the company also secured a separate multi-year credit facility from HSBC Innovation Banking of undisclosed size (confirmed, Northwood).
What happened
- The round: a16z and DFJ Growth co-led, with follow-on from Washington Harbour Partners (Series B lead), Alpine Space Ventures, Stepstone, In-Q-Tel (IQT) and others. Northwood says total capital raised is now more than $500 million; the Series C comes less than nine months after a $100 million Series B (confirmed, Northwood; reported, Payload, TechCrunch).
- Use of proceeds: accelerate delivery on existing contracts, hire talent, and expand the shared multi-orbit ground network for commercial, U.S. government and allied missions. CEO Bridgit Mendler said the company aims to reach and surpass the hundreds of sites of today's largest ground networks (confirmed, Northwood; reported, Payload).
- Network progress since Series B: Northwood says it has deployed six multi-orbit-capable sites on two continents, demonstrated geosynchronous command capacity from a commercial phased array in live tests (including a full-duplex GEO link for a Space Force prototype), released the Prism high-throughput dish for multi-gigabit links, and opened a 185,000-square-foot headquarters and factory in Torrance that expands manufacturing more than fivefold (confirmed, Northwood).
- Space Force work: in January the company announced a three-year $49.8 million contract to support the U.S. Space Force Satellite Control Network and has been delivering GEO ground links under that contract (reported, Payload; TechCrunch previously covered the nearly $50 million award).
- Products: Portal phased arrays for command and control and Prism parabolic dishes for payload data. Northwood says antennas ship by standard freight and can go from truck arrival to live links in three to four hours; a new site takes about three months. In a recent test it arrayed 10 Portals to match the receive performance of a 20-foot dish. Operators book capacity via an API. The company also sells antenna systems directly to select customers (confirmed, Northwood).
- Headcount: more than 140 employees today, with plans to add 400 jobs in Torrance and Washington, D.C. over three years (confirmed, Northwood). Sites capable of 100+ Gbps in high-demand regions are targeted by the end of 2027 (confirmed, Northwood).
Why it matters for space investors
As active satellites scaled from roughly 3,000 in 2020 to more than 14,000 by end-2025 (company figure), downlink and command capacity on the ground has become a bottleneck for LEO broadband, Earth observation and national-security missions. A $2 billion private valuation for a ground-network pure-play shows capital is flowing into the "last mile" of space infrastructure, not only into constellations.
Northwood is private, so there is no ticker. Listed names exposed to the same ground-and-satcom stack include Viasat, Iridium, AST SpaceMobile and EchoStar/Hughes (GSAT), while launch and rideshare demand that feeds more satellites sits with SpaceX and Rocket Lab. The theme ties to the broader satcom capacity shift covered in our Novaspace 2035 outlook. Watch how fast Northwood converts the Series C into live sites and whether the Space Force SCN work expands.
Not financial advice.
