BAE, Voyager, ICEYE Reshape Defense

LEO ISR & ground comms contacts surge. Satellite Spotlight, Edition 50.

Author

Imagining Forward
December 15, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 10 minutes

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space brew

deal flow this week

government

  • Voyager wins $21M AFRL award for ISR for national security (PM).

  • BAE Systems wins $16M DARPA award for autonomous tracking & secure LEO comms (SN).

  • Muon Space wins $1.9M SpaceWERX SBIR for optical missile tracking sensors in LEO (SN).

  • GMV wins $939k ESA contract for beamforming antennas for PNT in LEO (VS).

  • Sivers Semiconductors win $900k ESA contract for ASICs for satcom phased arrays (SN).

  • LeoLabs wins USSF & DOC-OSC award for LEO ISR data for traffic coordination (LL).

  • Telesat, MDA Space win Canadian DIA & Armed Forces contract for UHF milsatcom in Arctic (VS).

pre seed / seed

  • Unconventional AI raises $475M Seed by a16z, Lightspeed, Lux, DCVC for energy efficient AI computer (TC).

  • Overview Energy exits stealth with $20M by Aurelia, Earthrise, Engine, EQT for lasers to power solar farms (TC).

  • Odin Space raises $3M Seed by Steel Atlas, Iron Prairie for space collision insurance sensors (OD).

series A+

  • ICEYE raises $235M Series E by General Catalyst for SAR constellations & sovereign intel (IE).

  • K2 Space raises $250M Series C by Redpoint, T.Rowe, Lightspeed, Alpine Space for heavy lift spacecrafts (PR).

  • Bobyard raises $35M Series A by 8VC, Pear, Primary Venture, Caffeinated for computer vision models for construction (BW).

  • Prime Security raises $20M Series A by Flybridge, Scale for software design security (SW).

  • Bioxodes raises $6M Series A by Newton Biocapital for stroke therapy (TV).

m&a

  • Proofpoint acquires Hornetsecurity for $1.8B to expand Europe & SMB footprint (SW).

headlines

  • Intuitive Machines & Telespazio partner on lunar satcoms and PNT (IM).

  • e-GEOS & Umbra partner on ISR & earth observation by SAR constellations (SN).

  • Satlyt & Parsimoni partner for AI/ML compute across in-orbit satellites (VS).

  • Rogers Satellite launches satellite to IoT network for transportation, logistics, forestry, mining (VS).

  • NATO’s 2026 defense accelerator selects 20 Canadian deep tech companies (BK).

  • Aetherflux commits satellite constellation data center to orbit by 2027 (SC).

  • 1X Robotics to roll out 10,000 humanoids across EQT portfolio companies beginning 2026 (BW).

  • USSF reveals new taxonomy for satellite & ground system fleets (AS).

  • Novaspace projects $106B TAM for satcom, earth observation & GSaaS (SN).

community spotlight

where the industry is meeting this week

today, 12/15

  • Data in Power social (NYC).

  • Litquidity x Meridian mixer (NYC).

  • Founder x investor happy hour (SF).

  • Hackathon x AI agents x AWS x YC (SF).

  • Big chip club launch (SF).

tuesday, 12/16

  • Re-industrializing America (NYC).

  • Litquidity x Nexus gold (NYC).

  • Climate changemakers (NYC).

  • Prototype with AI x Stifel Venture (NYC).

  • AI x Salesforce (NYC).

  • AI x Pubkey fireside (NYC).

  • Battery management x energy fireside (SF).

  • GenAI trends panel (SF).

  • GCP x AICamp workshop (SF).

  • Hack night x Github (SF).

wednesday, 12/17

  • Founders x funders lunch (NYC).

  • Founders x fashion mixer (NYC).

  • Philosophy club (NYC).

  • Founder caffeine GTM mixer (NYC).

  • Venture accelerator x UCLA (LA).

  • Coffee meetup (LA).

  • Unplug holiday party (SF).

thursday, 12/18

  • Product design happy hour (NYC).

  • Critical tech x founder happy hour (NYC).

  • App founder dinner (NYC).

  • Energy x AI fireside (LA).

  • Holiday mixer (LA).

  • Convex holiday party (SF).

friday, 12/19

  • Founders x investor holiday gala (NYC).

friday, 12/22

  • Founders x investors meetup (NYC).

orbital classifieds

10+ Pre Seed/Seed founders raising.

1) Aviary AI

Founder: Karishma Inamdar

Stage: Pre-Seed

Edge AI software for in-orbit data intelligence. Founded by engineers from NASA, ESA, Google, and CalTech.

2) Nuotwo

Founder: Marko Brkljačić

Stage: Pre-Seed

Decarbonization panels to drop heating/cooling expenses.

3) ORBES

Founder: Anna Shaposhnik

Raising: Seed, $2 Million

Filming & inspection equipment for zero-gravity. Techstars 2025.

4) SpaceBilt

Founder: Dennis Wingo, Steve Kwast, Tommy Hicks

Raising: Series A

In orbit servicing, manufacturing, reprovisioning of spacecrafts. Partnered with Axiom Space for data center on ISS.

5) Black Sheep Group

Founder: Justin Kelley

Raising: Seed

Dual use solution to analyze RF signals. Partners include Anduril. $6M+ in defense contracts secured.

6) Type One Compute

Founder: Param Nayar

Raising: Seed

Dual-use processors for space domain awareness & electronic warfare. Partners include, Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems, and General Atomics.

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