AI and rockets mark the week's space investments
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By
Ross Wilkers
The venture capital arms of Boeing, Booz Allen Hamilton and Lockheed Martin are among those involved in the deals.
Quindar
This predominantly commercial space startup opened for business in 2022 to develop artificial intelligence technologies that help satellite owners automate how they operate constellations.
Booz Allen Hamilton's venture capital arm has made one space-focused investment since its formal inception in 2022, that being Albedo back in January.
Quindar has now become the second such backing with an eye toward bringing its cloud-based technology into government environments, thus making the tech more dual-use in nature.
A group of OneWeb engineers including Quindar's CEO Nate Hamet started the company with the goal to further "democratize space." In the federal landscape, Booz Allen Ventures and Quindar see opportunity to incorporate more AI-enabled tools in modern satellite systems from the ground to the skies.
Quindar has captured approximately $8.5 million in capital from investors to-date, including an initial $2.5 million seed funding round announced in January 2023 and a further $6 million disclosed in January of this year.
Y Combinator, FCVC, Soma Capital, Founders Fund and Liquid 2 Ventures are other members of Quindar's investor network.
X-Bow Systems
This eight-year-old company pronounced "Crossbow Launch Systems" has a singular goal that shapes its strategy and vision: break up the solid rocket motor production duopoly held by L3Harris Technologies and Northrop Grumman.
X-Bow has captured $70 million in Series B funding to further scale out its production infrastructure and complete a manufacturing facility in Texas, which it views as next steps for turning the vision into reality.
The company leans on 3D printing technology to make motors and propellants, an approach that it touts as a faster and cheaper alternative to other production practices.
Razor's Edge Ventures, an investment firm that uses the U.S. national defense strategy to inform its backings, led the Series B round for X-Bow. Razor's Edge also participated in an interim funding round led by Lockheed Martin's venture capital arm in 2023.
Lockheed Martin Ventures also is one of the names involved in the Series B round that also includes these notable identities as investors: Boeing Ventures, Crosslink Capital and Balerion Space Ventures.
Boeing and Lockheed are key buyers of solid rocket motors, as is their fellow blue chip defense giant RTX.
Union Square Advisors worked as the exclusive financial adviser to X-Bow for this financing round.