Hadrian, SpaceX Expand Capacity

ISAM, radar tech lift on national security. Satellite Spotlight, Edition 52.

Imagining Forward
January 12, 2026 • Estimated Reading Time: 10 minutes

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space brew

weekly deal flow

government

MDA Space, r4 Federal, HiddenLayer win $151B DoW IDIQ award for US missile and aerial defense (AT).
SpaceX wins $739M in USSF launch orders (GC).
Bae Systems wins $256M US Navy award for ship’s operational readiness (GC).
General Dynamics IT wins $131M USAF award to wired & wireless networks modernization at bases (AT).
Astroscale wins $6.4M Japan MoD award for gripping device for satellite maneuverability & ISAM (ST).
Voyager wins NASA HUNCH award for student workforce-led design & fabrication (SN).
Northrop Grumman & Kratos win US Marine Corp award for unmanned tactical aircraft (SN).

pre seed / seed

Boltz raises $28M Seed by a16z for AI biomolecular models for drug discovery (LD).

series A+

Hadrian raises at $1.6B valuation by T Rowe, Washington Harbour, Lux, a16z, RTX to scale industrial capacity (X).
Cyera raises $400M Series F to $9B valuation by Accel, Lightspeed, Sequoia for data security (SW).
Axiom Space raises $100M Series D+ by Hungarian telecom, 4iG Space & Defence, for commercial space stations (ST).
Vizgen raises $48M Series E financing by ARCH for spatial genomics therapies for cancer (VG).
Linker Vision raises $35M Series A by Abico, Nvidia, Yuanta for physical AI for smart cities & spaces (PR).
Protege raises $30M Series A by a16z, CRV, Bloomberg Beta for AI datasets for healthcare (BW).
Blackbird AI raises $28M Series B+ by Ten Eleven, Dorilton for enterprise deepfake security (SW).
Array Labs raises $20M Series A by Catapult, Washington Harbour Partners, YC to expand radar tech capacity (ST).

m&a

CACI acquires ARKA for $2.6B cash to grow top line 30% with energy and laser warning sensors & imaging (ST).
TransDigm acquires Stellant for $960M to boost revenue by 12% by TWT & RF power amplifiers sales (ST).
CrowdStrike acquires SGNL for $740M cash-stock for API & AI agent threat detection (CSO).
D-Wave acquires Quantum Circuits for $550M to vertically integrate error correction gate model for broader defense applications (BK).
Viasat exits Navarino, maritime connectivity partner, in switch to ICG financing (ST).
Magnet Defense to acquire ATG to vertically integrate command & control AI stack for maritime defense (GC).

IPO / public

Satellogic wins $10M+ deal for satellite imagery for defense & infrastructure security (ST).

headlines

President Trump forecasts defense spending at $1.5T in 2027 with Air Force receiving $300B & Space Force $46B (ASF).
a16z raises $15B+ earmarking 11% for infeastructure, 8% for American Dynamism & 5% for Bio Tech (LD).
SpaceX wins FCC approval to launch 15,000 satellites globally by 2031 for D2D satcom (TC).
Hubble Network & Texas Instruments partner on bluetooth network for fleet tracking & asset monitoring (ST).
QQ & Monogoto partner on IoT connectivity across LEO, GEO (ST).
Immarsat Maritime & Evergreen Marine partner on fleet connectivity upgrades for higher capacity & integrated IoT (ST).
Sweden Defense invests $1.6B in short-range air defense infrastructure (AA).
FAA proposes $4.5B radio altimeter upgrade by 2032 to control interference in 5G connectivity (AA).
Eutelsat & Airtel Gabon partner on LEO based wifi for railways (ST).
OroraTech & Kepler build livestream for real time infrared data for wildfire detections (OT).
Defense primes spent 2x or $110B in buybacks over capex since 2020 (BBG).

community spotlight

weekly industry meetups

view calendar - it’s JPM Healthcare week!

today, 01/12

Tech poker (NY).
Pear VC fireside (LA).
AI healthcare x JPM (SF).

tuesday, 01/13

Tech poker (NY).
Founders dinner (NY).
Biotech x Pharma Q&A (SF).
-1 to Doordash fireside (SF).
Bits x Bio x JPM (SF).
Apollo house (SF).
Longevity x JPM (SF).
Founder x VC breakfast (SF).

wednesday, 01/14

Founder x VC dinner (NY).
Web3 meetup (NY).
CMU happy hour (NY).
Founder x VC lunch x Stifel (NY).
Founders meetup (LA).
Founder coworking (LA).
Pitch night (SF).
Space hardware facility tour (SF).

thursday, 01/15

Healthcare happy hour (NY).
AgeTech happy hour (NY).
Tech happy hour (LA).
Tech mixer (LA).
Ivy league mixer (LA).
Founders x funders reverse pitch (LA).
Climate tech mixer (LA).
Hardware meetup (SF).
Boltz launch x a16z (SF).
Deep tech happy hour (SF).

saturday, 01/17

Marketing brunch (NY).

view calendar of industry events.

orbital classifieds

4+ Pre Seed/Seed founders raising.

1) BlueShift - Raising $10M Seed.

Founder: Deep Patel

LinkedIn | Website | Deck

Request intro

Mining tech. REE refining from coal fly ash. Sell metals, oxides to defense primes, fabs, & hardware facilities. Founded by MIT nuclear engineer, backed by ConocoPhillips. Hardware + software tech reduces OPEX by 3x.

2) Aviary AI - Raising Seed.

Founder: Karishma Inamdar

LinkedIn | Website | Deck

Request intro

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

We’re launching discord for deal flow. Request early access.