February's Space Dirt 🚀 (mid-month)

Welcome to the longest Space Dirt ever.

When I went to 2 Space Dirt’s a month, I thought the issues would get shorter, but the hard tech news cycle is exploding. And I’m happy to help share it with you.

Enjoy!

REAL ESTATE HIGHLIGHTS

Hermeus leased 60,000 SF at 204 Hornet Way in El Segundo, CA. (source: Me!)

CesiumAstro announced its new 270,000 SF high-tech advanced manufacturing facility and global headquarters in Bee Cave, TX. The company’s investment in Texas totals more than $500 million and will create more than 500 new jobs over the next five years. (source: Office of the Texas Governor)

Isembard leased 25,000 SF at 1221 Champion Circle, Carrollton, TX. The location will serve as the company’s U.S. headquarters and is equipped with precision CNC mills, lathes, and other equipment to produce components for critical industries. (source: Me! and IEN)

Blue Cubed moved into a new office in Lafayette, CO. (source: LinkedIn)

Umbra is growing its footprint with a new 20,000 SF facility in Reston, VA. This new facility builds on last year’s 50,000 SF expansion. “We’re proud to deepen our partnership with the Commonwealth of Virginia, Virginia Economic Development Partnership, Fairfax County Economic Development Authority and the broader community - and to add exceptional engineers, operators, and builders who want to move fast and take on hard problems.” (source: LinkedIn)

STEALTH NO MORE

Seeing Systems (YC W26) emerged from stealth, building inexpensive, modular autonomous strike drones designed to stay operationally relevant as warfare evolves. The UK-based company was founded by brothers Alex and Matthew Le Maitre (Matthew is a former Jane Street software engineer and top-ranked CS graduate from the University of Cambridge who worked on autonomous systems at Cambridge Mobile Robotics Lab). Alex has been obsessed with unmanned systems since childhood and is self-taught in embedded electronics and PCB design, previously designing EOD training hardware for military users. The company combines true hardware modularity with an agentic control system that reduces cognitive load on operators, enabling 2x+ reduction in lifecycle costs through faster upgrades and broader adoption. Current customers and partners include UK Royal Marine Commandos, several other UK military units, and 4 NATO forces, with prototypes being shipped to Ukraine for iterative feedback. The platform leverages agentic autonomy to automate tasks such as navigation and coordination, enabling operators with no prior training to operate the system at full effectiveness. Forward-deployed engineers work directly with each military unit to integrate feedback within hours. The company operates on a "minimum viable version" philosophy for rapid iteration and has raised funding from undisclosed investors. (source: Y Combinator and LinkedIn)

Mesh Optical Technologies emerged from stealth with a $50M Series A round led by Thrive Capital to build optical transceivers for AI data centers. The Los Angeles-based company was founded in 2025 by former SpaceX engineers Travis Brashears (CEO), Cameron Ramos (President), and Serena Groon-Haberli (Chief Product Officer), who previously developed laser systems connecting thousands of Starlink satellites. Other investors include Also Capital and Banner VC. The company develops optical transceivers that convert optical signals from fiber or lasers into electrical signals for computers, crucial for AI data centers where training and running large models requires moving massive amounts of data between GPUs at high speeds. Their first product, Alpha C1, promises faster performance, higher power efficiency, and lower latency than existing transceivers, with plans to scale manufacturing to 1,000 units per day by 2026. The company aims to build the "largest optical manufacturing footprint outside of Asia" by 2027 to address supply chain dependencies on China-dominated manufacturing. Future plans include deploying the technology in space, envisioning "in-space infrastructure connected by lasers" and deep space probes beaming photons across billions of miles. (source: LinkedIn and TechCrunch)

Petrel Technologies emerged from stealth, building low-cost Group 3 VTOL drones with $3.5M in pre-seed funding from family offices. The Florida-based company was founded by college friends Jacob Stonecipher and Chris Rothe (former Green Beret, 10th Special Forces Group), who initially built aerial advertising drones under the name Sustainable Skylines before pivoting to defense applications. Their drone features an 11-foot wingspan, a 100-pound maximum takeoff weight, a 30-50-pound payload capacity, and 6-8 hours of endurance, powered by a unique carbon-fiber and balsa-wood airframe. The balsa wood provides a high strength-to-weight ratio, elite vibration dampening for sensors, field repairability, and low cost. The VTOL design is launcher-independent and can be configured for ISR, tactical resupply, kinetic payloads, or one-way deep strike missions. Priced at around $90,000 per unit, the drone can be assembled in four minutes and operates autonomously from launch to landing with mission-specific software, including small drone mothership capabilities. The company has been down-selected by INDOPACOM for Pacific island logistics experiments, will embed with the Army's XVIII Airborne Corps at upcoming exercises, and has conducted tests with the 101st Airborne at Fort Campbell and the Army's JRTC in Louisiana. (source: Tectonic)

Galadyne emerged from stealth, building next-generation missile systems using liquid propulsion with backing from Andreessen Horowitz. The company was founded by Chandler Luzsicza (ex-SpaceX Starship propulsion lead, Dragon prop engineer, UCLA aerospace engineering graduate) who started working on liquid rockets as a teenager. Galadyne is developing containerized, scalable missile platforms designed to bypass bottlenecks in traditional solid rocket motor production, specifically addressing supply chain fragility around ammonium perchlorate constraints. The company's architecture focuses on full-stack vertical integration and scalable liquid propulsion to restore speed, resilience, and industrial strength to U.S. defense manufacturing. Luzsicza's vision involves building 1,000km-class strike platforms capable of production at tens of thousands per year scale, applying commercial space engineering culture to modernize missile development. The company operates under the philosophy that production scale is the real deterrent and aims to recruit "new space" talent into defense applications. Funding details beyond a16z backing not disclosed. (source: Tectonic, Substack, and LinkedIn)

Project Omega emerged from stealth with $12M in seed funding led by Starship Ventures to recycle spent nuclear fuel into battery-sized nuclear power sources. Founded in 2025 by Dr. Stafford Sheehan (former Air Company CEO, Yale PhD, Forbes 30 Under 30) and headquartered in Newport, Rhode Island, the company aims to rebuild America's nuclear fuel cycle end-to-end. The company is converting the 90,000+ tons of spent nuclear fuel stored across 100+ U.S. sites (which retains 90% of its inherent energy) into long-duration, high-density power sources for military, scientific, and consumer applications. Other investors include Mantis Ventures, Buckley Ventures, Decisive Point, and Slow Ventures. Project Omega uses a molten salt separation process (versus traditional "dirty, aqueous water-based" methods) to extract radioisotopes like Strontium-90 for betavoltaic batteries providing decades-long power. The company has partnerships with Idaho National Lab for separation/refining and Pacific Northwest National Lab for product development, with a working proof of concept already demonstrated. Initial applications target defense needs (sensors, drones, wearables, edge computing) with a pending DoD contract for radioisotope generators. The company was started with assistance from former NRC Chair Christopher T. Hanson. (source: Tectonic)

Kyten Technologies (YC W26) emerged from stealth to build custom aerospace-grade battery packs at scale for the defense and aerospace industry. Founded by engineers with combined eight years at SpaceX, Starlink, and Shield AI (Cooper McBride and Lucas Maddox), the company addresses the bottleneck where American vehicle manufacturers building hundreds of thousands of air, sea, and space vehicles face legacy supply chains that can't deliver custom battery packs fast enough. Traditional aerospace suppliers deliver low volumes at 5x+ costs with 12+ month lead times, forcing companies into costly vertical integration. Kyten has deployed over 5,000+ battery packs to orbit during their Starlink tenure and brings rapid development capabilities to deliver high volumes in weeks rather than months. Their approach eliminates traditional bottlenecks through adaptive design (custom form factors as default), software-defined test and manufacturing (automated systems taking designs to volume production in days), and in-house qualification capabilities. The company works with drones, submarines, satellites, and other platforms requiring custom configurations. They're currently onboarding pilot customers across sea, air, and space manufacturers. (source: Y Combinator and LinkedIn)

Odin Dynamics emerged from stealth, building autonomous underwater vehicles designed for precision strike, intelligence/surveillance/reconnaissance (ISR), and mine warfare in contested maritime environments. Founded in 2024 and headquartered in Sacramento, CA, the company was founded by CEO Amir Khan and addresses the urgent undersea warfare gap where adversaries are producing ships and submarines at 17x the U.S. rate while traditional autonomous underwater systems remain short-range, underpowered, and too expensive for scale deployment. The company leverages Tesla-inspired battery and power systems along with deep expertise in performance vehicles, powertrains, energy storage, autonomous systems, and defense innovation to build next-generation maritime platforms for global deterrence.

Odin's autonomous underwater vehicles are designed for high endurance, long-range operations, and modular configurations to provide scalable deterrence in contested zones like the South China Sea, Taiwan Strait, and Black Sea. The company has completed two generations of AUV prototypes (P1 & P2) with autonomous navigation demonstrated and critical subsystems validated. Unlike legacy defense primes operating on 5-7 year timelines with high unit costs, Odin focuses on rapid fielding of stealthy, lethal, and distributed capabilities using affordable, scalable platforms. Odin is backed by Tareyton Venture Partners. (sources: LinkedIn and PitchBook)

Wake Energy emerged from stealth, building high-volume drone battery packs manufactured in Los Angeles for defense and commercial applications. The company produces hundreds of battery packs per week for FPV, UAS, and robotics platforms with processes tuned for repeatability, fast changeovers, and consistent quality. Their flagship product is the THOR 6030, a 6S3P lithium-ion pack with ~324 Wh of energy capacity, using Molicel P50B/P45B cells and assembled in the USA with Taiwanese cells. Wake Energy emphasizes quality through thick nickel-plated copper busbars, CNC micro-TIG welding, and pull-testing coupons from each electrode to ensure durability in demanding applications. All products are NDAA compliant, UN38.3 compliant, and assembled in America. The company follows a "move fast and break things" testing philosophy to deliver compliant batteries quickly, including MIL-STD-810H 516.8 transit drop testing and continuous 65A discharge capabilities. Applications span drones, defense, robotics, and micromobility sectors. The company markets a $151 battery pack specifically for drone dominance applications. Co-founders are Wilder Buchanan and Jake Whinnery. (source: LinkedIn and Wake Energy)

Servo7 (YC W26) emerged from stealth, building AI-controlled industrial robots that adapt to existing facilities rather than requiring complete redesigns. The company was founded by hardcore engineers with experience in autonomous defense systems, LLMs, autonomous driving, hyperloops, and aerospace who have deployed robots in highly regulated industries, including military and hospitals. Traditional industrial automation requires redesigning entire facilities around rigid, single-purpose robots - changing floor plans, adjusting conveyor belts, and re-educating staff. Servo7's robots deploy in existing operations, learn from simple demonstrations, and continuously improve on the job using AI models to control wheeled humanoids and robot arms. The implementation is dramatically faster and easier than traditional systems. Applications include material handling, assembly support, sorting, inspection, loading/unloading, and other repetitive tasks across warehouses, manufacturing, and logistics. The company is already working with warehouses and CPG brands to automate fulfillment operations. Co-founders are Pieter Becking and Jasper van Leuven. (source: Y Combinator and LinkedIn)

Reflex Security emerged from stealth with co-founders Cassio Goldschmidt and Marlow Bryant building an AI-powered incident response training platform that transforms static tabletop exercises into adaptive, realistic crisis simulations. Goldschmidt brings over 20 years of cybersecurity leadership experience, most recently as Chief Information Security Officer at ServiceTitan where he built a world-class security program from the ground up, contributing to the company's successful $9 billion IPO in December 2024. An internationally recognized security expert with multiple patents and Forbes Technology Council contributor, Goldschmidt has identified a critical gap: companies with strong security teams still freeze during real incidents because traditional annual tabletop exercises are "theater, not training." The platform addresses the reality that when breaches hit, customers demand answers, executives need updates, and legal teams are on the line, but walking through static PowerPoint scenarios once a year doesn't prepare teams to coordinate under real pressure. Reflex Security creates environment-specific simulations built from each organization's actual infrastructure and threat model, featuring adaptive adversaries that respond to decisions in real-time rather than following scripts. The system delivers measurable outcomes by tracking decision speed, communication gaps, and mitigation effectiveness across all stakeholders, including Security, Engineering, Legal, Communications, Support, and Compliance teams. (sources: LinkedIn)

REAL ESTATE CORNER

NOTABLE FUNDINGS

York Space Systems ($YSS) issued shares on the NYSE in an IPO that netted the satellite manufacturer $629M. The shares began trading at $38, giving York an initial valuation of $4.75B. In York’s IPO prospectus, the company reported that the vast majority of its revenue to date has come from government customers. In the first nine months of 2025, for instance, government customers drove $270M in York revenue, compared to just $11M from the commercial sector. York plans to use the new capital to increase its production capacity, and start building a larger inventory of its satellite platforms to quickly capitalize on new opportunities. The company is also open to M&A opportunities if doing so can help to further secure its supply chain. (source: Payload)

Stoke Space announced an extension of its previous Series D financing, bringing the total amount raised in the round to $860 million. The round was initially announced in October 2025 at $510 million. That funding focused on completing activation of Launch Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Fla., and expanding production capacity for the Nova launch vehicle.  Stoke will use the additional capital to accelerate future elements of its product roadmap. The terms of the round were not disclosed. With the extension, Stoke has now raised $1.34 billion to date. (source: Stoke Space)

AI-powered robotics company Apptronik announced a $520M Series A-X funding round, with participation from existing investors including B Capital, Google, Mercedes-Benz and PEAK6, and new investors including AT&T Ventures, John Deere and Qatar Investment Authority (QIA). The Series A-X extension round follows a $415M oversubscribed initial Series A raise in 2025, bringing Apptronik’s total Series A to more than $935M and total capital raised to nearly $1B. After the initial Series A announcement, Apptronik continued to receive substantial inbound investor interest, leading the company to open the new extension of its Series A at a 3x multiple of the Series A valuation, underscoring strong investor confidence in Apptronik’s vision for AI-powered robots that support people in every facet of life. With this fresh capital, Apptronik will ramp up production of its award-winning humanoid robot, Apollo™, and expand its global network of commercial and pilot deployments. (source: Apptronik)

CesiumAstro Inc. announced it secured $470 million in growth capital, cementing its position as a mission-critical provider of next-generation space and defense communications. The funding includes $270 million in equity, led by Trousdale Ventures, with participation from Woven Capital, Janus Henderson Investors, Airbus Ventures, the Development Bank of Japan Inc., MESH, EDBI, NewSpace Capital, and other global investors, alongside a $200 million financing package from the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) and J.P. Morgan, a first of its kind public-private partnership under the “Make More In America” Initiative. The capital will fuel CesiumAstro’s rapid scale-up, including the build-out of a new 270,000-square-foot headquarters, expanded manufacturing capacity, and accelerated deployment of its software-defined, AI-enabled space communications platforms worldwide. (source: CesiumAstro)

Intertia announced $450M in funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from GV (Google Ventures), Modern Capital, Threshold Ventures, and others to bring star power to Earth. This investment provides Interia with the funding needed to develop the world’s most powerful laser and the world’s first fusion target factory for the first utility-scale, laser-based fusion power plant. (source: LinkedIn)

Redwood Materials announced the final closing of its Series E financing, bringing the total raise to $425M. This final close includes continued participation from existing investors, Capricorn and Goldman Sachs Alternatives, and welcomes Google as a new investor. Driven by strong demand, the increase from the previously announced $350 million reflects confidence in its long-term strategy and execution. This capital will accelerate Redwood’s energy storage platform while continuing to strengthen its integrated recycling and critical minerals business. “Together, these investments position Redwood to lead grid reliability, energy security, and the next phase of modern power infrastructure. We are deploying capital with discipline and relentlessly focused on execution as we continue scaling our domestic battery ecosystem.”  (source: Redwood Materials)

Axiom Space has raised $350M to advance development of a commercial space station and new spacesuits for NASA. The Houston-based company announced that it raised a new funding round led by Type One Ventures and Qatar Investment Authority (QIA). Several other investors participated, including 1789 Capital, 4iG, and LuminArx Capital Management, along with company founder Kam Ghaffarian. In an interview, Jonathan Cirtain, president and chief executive of Axiom Space, said the bulk of the funding will go towards development of Axiom Station, the company’s planned commercial space station. That includes completing the first module, a Payload Power Thermal Module (PPTM) scheduled for launch in 2028, and continued development of a second module, a habitat, slated for 2029. (source: SpaceNews)

Skyryse, an El Segundo-based company focused on aviation automation and simplified flight controls, raised over $300M in a Series C round to drive continued growth and scaling, bringing its valuation to $1.15B. To date, Skyryse has raised more than $605M in equity capital. This round was led by Autopilot Ventures and returning investor Fidelity Management & Research Company, with participation from new and returning investors ArrowMark Partners, Atreides Management LP, BAM Elevate, Baron Capital Group, Inc., Durable Capital Partners, Positive Sum, Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), RCM Private Markets Fund managed by Rokos Capital Management (US) LP, Woodline Partners, among others. (source: LA Times)

Bedrock Robotics, a leader in autonomous construction technology, announced it has raised $270M in Series B funding co-led by CapitalG and the Valor Atreides AI Fund, with participation from Xora, 8VC, Eclipse, Emergence Capital, Perry Creek Capital, NVentures (NVIDIA's venture capital arm), Tishman Speyer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Georgian, Incharge Capital, C4 Ventures, and others. This round brings Bedrock's total funding to over $350M. The funding will accelerate Bedrock's mission to transform how general contractors build, from deploying individual autonomous machines to orchestrating fully connected fleets that reshape productivity and safety. The new funding follows a period of rapid growth for Bedrock. The company emerged from stealth in July 2025 with $80M in Seed and Series A funding and, in November, completed a large-scale supervised autonomy deployment for mass excavation at a 130-acre manufacturing site. (source: PR Newswire)

AI chip startup Positron, which is trying to compete with Nvidia Corp., raised $230M in a funding round from investors including Arm Holdings Plc and the Qatar Investment Authority. The round values the company at more than $1 billion, including funds raised, Chief Executive Officer Mitesh Agrawal said in an interview. The round was co-led by Arena Private Wealth, formerly OCM Private Wealth, Positron customer Jump Trading, and Unless. Helena, along with previous investors including Valor Equity Partners, Atreides Management, and DFJ Growth, also participated. (source: X)

VulcanForms has secured $220M in new financing to expand its integrated digital metal manufacturing footprint in the United States. This funding round, led by Eclipse and 1789 Capital with participation from Washington Harbour Partners LP, Fontinalis Partners, IEQ Capital, and additional partners, reflects the growing need for dependable U.S.-based production capacity for advanced metal components. Demand continues to increase across aerospace, defense, medical, consumer, and industrial programs, and its platform is built to support that scale. The investment enables Vulcan to increase manufacturing capacity, expand our facilities, and advance the core technologies that allow us to deliver consistent, high-quality parts for long-term production programs. It also reinforces our commitment to strengthening domestic manufacturing capabilities at a time when companies are prioritizing resilient supply chains and secure production. (source: LinkedIn)

Tomorrow.io announced a $175M equity financing led by Stonecourt Capital and HarbourVest to accelerate the deployment of DeepSky, the world's first AI-native weather satellite constellation. The funding is intended to support the rapid expansion of Tomorrow.io's space infrastructure and intelligence platform, enabling unprecedented global atmospheric sensing and decision-making capabilities. This financing builds on a proven foundation of execution. Tomorrow.io has completed the full deployment of its first satellite constellation, having launched 13 satellites to space and achieved 60-minute global revisit, while scaling an AI-driven intelligence platform now embedded across critical industries. (source: PR Newswire)

Machina Labs announced its $124M Series C. Investors included Lockheed Martin, Woven Capital, Balerion Space Ventures, NVIDIA, and the Strategic Development Fund (SDF), as well as previous investors who reinvested in this round. (source: LinkedIn)

Overland AI, a leader in autonomous ground systems for defense and national security, today announced it has raised $100M in new funding to scale operations with end users across the U.S. Armed Forces. The equity round was led by 8VC, with continued participation from Point72 Ventures, Ascend Venture Capital, Shasta Ventures, and Overmatch Ventures, as well as new support from Valor Equity Partners and StepStone Group, alongside other institutional investors. The total amount raised includes a $20 million venture debt facility from TriplePoint Capital. (source: Overland AI)

Apeiron Labs closed a $9.5M Series A round led by Dyne Ventures, RA Capital Management, Planetary Health, and S2G Investments. Assembly Ventures, Bay Bridge Ventures, and TFX Capital participated. Apeiron Labs is building low-cost vehicles that travel 400 meters up and down the ocean’s water column (the vertical section of ocean from surface to seafloor), sampling temperature, salinity, and acoustics once or twice per day. Apeiron currently sells to both civilian and defense customers. (source: TechCrunch)

Deep Fission has raised $80 million in new financing. The financing was completed through the offer and sale of 5,333,333 restricted shares of common stock at a fixed price of $15.00 per share. Seaport Global Securities and The Benchmark Company acted as agents for the private placement. Investors included Ed Eisler of EE Holdings and Mark Tompkins of Montrose Capital, who led the Company’s previous financing round in September 2025. (source: VentureBurn)

Cybersecurity company RADICL announced that it has raised a $31M Series A led by Paladin Capital Group, with participation from funds including Access Venture Partners, Denver Ventures, and Cervin Ventures. RADICL Co-Founder and COO Dave Graff told Tectonic that the new cash money will be used to scale up development and go-to-market for the company’s flagship AI-powered “virtual security operation center (vSOC),” designed to keep small and medium businesses in critical industries safe from cyber attacks. (source: Tectonic)

Avalanche Energy, a fusion energy startup developing modular compact fusion machines, announced $29M in new funding led by RA Capital Management. New investors include 8090 Industries, Overlay Capital, and others, with full participation from existing investors Congruent Ventures, Founders Fund, Lowercarbon Capital, and Toyota Ventures. The funding reflects significant recent advances in the performance of Avalanche's compact fusion technology and provides the private matching funds for Avalanche's $10M grant issued in July 2025 by the Washington State Department of Commerce Green Jobs Grant Program, as well as additional capital to fund the company's continued commercial growth. The funding will primarily be deployed to scale FusionWERX, Avalanche's commercial-scale fusion test facility located in Richland, WA. (source: PR Newswire)

Natilus announced a $28M in Series A financing, led by Draper Associates with participation from strategic investors including Flexport, Type One Ventures, New Vista Capital, The Veteran Fund, and Wave Function®. The capital will be used to complete the manufacturing of its first full-scale KONA regional freighter and advance the program toward initial flight operations. (source: LinkedIn)

Seasats, a leader in small uncrewed surface vehicles (sUSVs), today announced the close of a $20M Series A financing led by Konvoy Ventures, with participation from Shield Capital, DNS Capital, Techstars, Tanis Venture Management, Crumpton Ventures, Dorado Group, and other strategic investors. To date, the company has raised more than $40M in funding and has recently been awarded over $100M in U.S. government contracts, underscoring strong demand for its proven autonomous maritime platforms. (source: PR Newswire)

Integrate, the developer of the world’s first ultra-secure project management platform for dynamic multi-entity execution, today announced a $17M Series A raise led by FPV Ventures with participation from Fuse VC and Rsquared VC. Returning investors include New Vista, Hyperplane, and Riot Ventures. Building on the success of its customer agreement with the U.S. Space Force, Integrate plans to leverage the funding to accelerate the launch of new product capabilities to government customers and scale its go-to-market strategy to meet the needs of the defense tech sector. (source: Integrate)

Morpheus Space, a leading innovator and manufacturer of advanced electric propulsion systems for in-space mobility, announced a new $15M strategic investment by Alpine Space Ventures and the European Investment Fund, with continued support from Lavrock Ventures, Morpheus Ventures, Pallas Ventures, Vsquared Ventures, as well as other new and existing investors, to fuel the company's next phase of growth and innovation. Morpheus Space will deploy the funding to expand its mass-production capabilities and team, advancing the development of its next-generation mobility products. The enhanced production capacity at its Reloaded Facility in Dresden will further enable the company to support its customer base with reliable, rapidly deployable propulsion systems for large-scale satellite constellations. (source: Yahoo! Finance)

Tenna Systems announced it has raised a $13.5M seed round to fuel its expansion in the US market and further develop its software. The round was led by Costanoa, with participation from Viola Ventures, Fresh Fund, 202 Ventures, and other existing investors. Tenna is an Israeli startup developing a spectrum intelligence tool that enables you to identify where EW is coming from so you can avoid it. (source: Tectonic)

Allonic Robotics raised $7.2 million in pre-seed funding. The pre-seed round was led by Visionaries Club, with participation from Day One Capital, Prototype, SDAC Ventures, TinyVC, and angel investors from OpenAI, Hugging Face, ETH Zurich, and Northwestern University. The funds will be allocated towards developing a new method for producing complex, dexterous robotic bodies. (source: Vestbee)

Powerline has raised a $7M seed round, led by MaC Venture Capital, with participation from LG Technology Ventures, J-Impact Fund, and other partners. Powerline develops AI systems for monitoring and operation of energy assets, enhancing the performance in power markets and reducing emissions. (source: LinkedIn)

San Francisco–based AiStrike raised $7M in Seed funding to expand operations and accelerate development of its AI-native cyber defense platform. Lead Investor: Blumberg Capital. Participants: Runtime Ventures, Oregon Venture Fund. Strategic Angels: Industry operators and security leaders. Nitin Agale is the Founder & CEO. (source: LinkedIn)

Conduit, a developer of a no-code Physical AI platform for manufacturing, raised a $4.7M Pre-Seed, led by Wonder Ventures and Autotech Ventures, with participation from SNR, Ford Street Ventures, Breakers, and 640 Oxford. The investment will be used to advance their platform, which connects robots and factory systems to automate manufacturing processes, enabling factories to modernize in days rather than years. (source: LinkedIn)

AI-powered intelligence company Whitespace announced it has raised a $3.2M seed round to scale its “warfighter-ready intelligence analysis agent,” called Iris. The round was co-led by MaC Venture Capital and Caffeinated Capital with participation from “family offices and strategic angels.” This is the first time the company has raised money since it was founded 11 years ago. “Operations don’t wait for perfect data or perfect connectivity,” Jackie Barbieri, co-founder and CEO of Whitespace, said in a statement. “Iris is the first AI agent built to do intelligence analysis for the warfighter.” (source: Tectonic)

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AGREEMENTS, PARTNERSHIPS, & CONTRACTS

LightPath Technologies, a leading provider of next-generation optics and imaging systems for both defense and commercial applications, announced it has acquired the assets of Amorphous Materials, Inc., an industrial manufacturer with complementary Chalcogenide glass melting technologies, in particular for large diameter optics, purchased for aggregate consideration of $7.0 million in cash, with the potential for up to $3 million of additional technical milestone-based equity consideration. The acquisition accelerates execution of the strategic vision to become a leading vertically integrated infrared imaging ("IR") solutions provider in the $9B infrared imaging market. (source: PR Newswire)

Starfish Space announced it has been awarded a $54.5M contract to deliver its second Otter satellite servicing vehicle for the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command (SSC). The contract, funded through the Pentagon’s Accelerate the Procurement and Fielding of Innovative Technologies (APFIT) program, supports delivery of an Otter spacecraft for dynamic space operations in geosynchronous orbit. The award reflects confidence in Starfish to deliver a near-term, deployable capability, with the Otter scheduled for delivery in 2028. The Otter is designed to autonomously dock with and maneuver national security satellites, maximizing their operational capabilities while supporting SSC’s need for sustained space maneuver. This award is the only APFIT contract issued to a space company in the current funding cycle and is among the largest in the program's history. (source: Starfish Space)

Amca, an El Segundo-based aerospace and defense company, has acquired Electrocube of Pomona, CA, from two of its founding families. The transaction adds flight-critical power electronics to Amca's growing capabilities. Shedd Capital served as an advisor on the deal. Amca acquires legacy aerospace and defense suppliers and equips them to rapidly design, qualify, and manufacture components to reduce supply chain risk and accelerate time-to-field across the industry. During its first year of ownership, Amca will invest significantly in expanding Electrocube's engineering and product catalog. For decades, Electrocube has been one of Boeing's most trusted partners, as a key supplier of transformers for over 35 different use cases across the plane on nearly every one of its commercial platforms. Out of over 5,000 direct suppliers to Boeing, Electrocube ranks in the top 20 in its annual rankings for near-perfect quality, on-time delivery, and responsiveness. It's a testament to the company's relentless focus on customer service that has been part of the company's DNA since its founding. (source: Yahoo! Finance)

Anatar and ChangRobotics have partnered to bring America the next generation in textile manufacturing, reclaiming our supply base for defense and retail textiles from overseas. Anatar recently opened its seed funding round to build American textile gigafactories providing Made-in-USA goods that compete globally on cost, speed, and quality. Chang Robotics has invested directly off its balance sheet. Chang has also committed engineering resources to ensure Anatar can deliver on every promise to industry. (source: X)

Nominal announced it is officially partnering with Anduril to scale its testing infrastructure across Anduril’s production lines. The two companies have already worked together for about 18 months, and Nominal is deployed across half of Anduril’s programs, but this new “seven-figure plus” deal (McCord’s words) will accelerate deployment across the company. (source: Tectonic)

Picogrid announced a $9.3M contract to modernize security operations at select U.S. Air Force installations. This award transitions Picogrid’s Legion software from pilot programs to a multi-year operational presence at key sites, ensuring they are protected by a unified, responsive command-and-control architecture. To enhance installation security and situational awareness, this program provides a common operational picture for our Security Forces and other operators. It improves their effectiveness by integrating data from a wide array of existing sensor technologies into a unified system. This approach streamlines operations and strengthens the overall security of Air Force resources. (source: Picogrid)

Cofactr announced a partnership with Forge, helping hardware manufacturing companies recover duty drawbacks they didn't know they were eligible for. If your company imports components and then exports finished products (or launches them to space!), you can recover up to 99% of import duties paid, going back 5 years. Cofactr customers already have the import data needed, making recovery nearly effortless. Plus, there's zero upfront cost. Forge only gets paid when you receive your refund. (source: LinkedIn)

Vast, the company developing next-generation space stations, has signed an order with NASA for the sixth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, targeted to launch no earlier than summer 2027 from Florida. It is Vast’s first private astronaut mission to the space station in partnership with NASA. The Vast private astronaut mission crew is expected to spend up to 14 days aboard the space station. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will launch the crew on a Dragon spacecraft to the space station as previously announced. The mission will generate invaluable insights into the infrastructure and processes required for Vast to safely accomplish human spaceflight missions. The mission supports deeper collaboration with NASA and international space agencies in addition to strengthening Vast’s position as a candidate to deliver its proposed successor to the space station, the multi-module, continuously crewed Haven-2. (source: LinkedIn)

Hyundai Motor Company/KIA’s partnership with FieldAI, including a financial investment, where they focus on extending physical AI (locomotion and manipulation) into full operational AI for construction and industrial applications. Together with Hyundai Motor Company/KIA, Boston Dynamics, and the broader robotics ecosystem, FieldAI is building AI systems that don’t just understand the physical world but operate safely and autonomously within large-scale construction and industrial operations. (source: LinkedIn)

LightPath Technologies announced that it has secured a $9.6 million purchase order for cooled infrared cameras from an existing defense customer for use in defense and security applications, with deliveries expected throughout calendar year 2026. Production of the cameras will be split between the Company's facilities in Florida and New Hampshire, leveraging LightPath's expanded domestic manufacturing capabilities. LightPath's cooled infrared cameras are the system of choice for all-weather security and surveillance, combining high-end performance with reliability and ease of use. (source: LightPath)

Divergent announced that it has been awarded a position on the Missile Defense Agency’s Scalable Homeland Innovative Enterprise Layered Defense (SHIELD) IDIQ. The goal of the $151B-ceiling SHIELD IDIQ is to rapidly field, scale, and sustain advanced capabilities in support of America’s Golden Dome missile defense initiative. (source: LinkedIn)

Raytheon signed five framework agreements with the Department of War to massively scale up missile production at facilities in Tucson, Huntsville, and Andover. The up-to-seven-year deals will boost annual output to over 1,000 Tomahawk cruise missiles, at least 1,900 AMRAAMs, and more than 500 SM-6 interceptors—representing two-to-four-fold increases for several munitions. Production of SM-3 Block IB and IIA interceptors is also ramping up. The agreements follow earlier pressure from the Trump administration, which singled out Raytheon as "the least responsive" defense contractor and threatened to cut ties unless the company stepped up investment. RTX responded by committing to a $500 million increase in 2026 investments for munitions facilities. (source: Phoenix Business Journal)

Voxel Energy is partnering with Sift to solve AI data center power problems that the legacy grid can't handle. The US power grid is so oversubscribed that some utilities have stopped accepting new interconnect applications, leaving data centers stuck in multi-year waitlists for electricity. Voxel bypasses this bottleneck with grid-independent DC-native power infrastructure that eliminates the inefficient AC conversions plaguing traditional systems, losing only 4% of energy versus 30% in legacy approaches. If the entire US commercial sector adopted Voxel's technology, cost savings could hit $70B. Sift augments this with real-time observability of battery systems, helping engineers gauge resilience as AI workloads surge by over 50% within seconds. Together, they're unblocking the infrastructure wall that's stalling AI expansion. (source: Sift)

The Pentagon named 25 vendors to compete in Phase I of the Drone Dominance Program, kicking off "the Gauntlet" evaluation at Fort Benning on February 18. This is the first phase of a four-phase sprint to field hundreds of thousands of weaponized one-way attack drones by 2027, addressing the reality that China produces millions of cheap drones annually while the US has lagged. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's directive aims to arm every squad with low-cost expendable drones by end of 2026, prioritizing Indo-Pacific units. Phase I will award $150 million in delivery orders to about 12 vendors (from the 25 competing) for 30,000 drones, with military operators doing the evaluations. The program totals $1.1 billion across four phases, with unit prices decreasing from $5,000 in Phase I to as low as $2,300 in Phase IV as volumes scale and vendor pools narrow to 3-5 companies. The acquisition strategy puts warfighters at the center of evaluation and drives competitive cycles measured in months, not years. (source: Defense Scoop)

WHAT I’M CONSUMING (AND ENJOYING!) 

🌌 Casey Handmer lays out the economic case for why SpaceX's lunar pivot makes sense: space-based AI inference could be 100x more valuable than terrestrial data centers, leaving 98% margin even if it costs twice as much to operate in orbit.

🛋 Brighter Founder, Simon Berens, shares some tips and lessons learned shipping 500 units of his first hardware product (the world’s brightest lamp).

🗺 Naval officer Troy Thompson must have spent a tremendous amount of time writing his Substack on the Southeast frontier-tech corridor. Give it a read.

💸 CX2’s CEO Nathan Mintz writes about the various schemes of waste, fraud, and abuse he has personally seen in his two decades plus in aerospace and defense that small businesses in particular are guilty of—and shares what the US is already doing or should be doing to rein this in.

👨‍💻 I stumbled across this aerospace & defense jobs LinkedIn group. Thought I’d share in case anyone is looking.

🔩 Zach Glabman offers a thorough blueprint for the reindustrialization of the US.

HOW I CAN HELP YOU

Here are 3* ways I can help when the time is right:

1. Find a new home for your growing business. You're scaling fast, and you don't have time to become a CRE expert. I do this every day.

2. Sublease your space. Outgrown your office, but don't want to pay two rents? I'll help you find a subtenant.

3. Negotiate your lease renewal. Want to make sure you’re getting a fair deal from your Landlord? In my experience, you can never be too sure. Start 12 months out, so you're not scrambling at the last minute.

Strong references available. Let's talk.

*Not an exhaustive list 💪

Thanks for reading.

If you’d like your office and/or manufacturing space or business profiled - or even your city! - let me know. It’s always fun to explore and share the different components of the hard tech industry.

Erik Stiebel
Founder and Vice President
CA DRE License #02080746
424.241.4795 | [email protected] 
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