Starlink, Astrus, IQM: $400M+ Deals Boost Deep Tech

Deal making heats up EDA chip automation, quantum & copper plays. Satellite Spotlight, Edition 37.

Author

Imagining Forward
September 09, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

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PSA We are hosting a satcom panel at SF Tech Week and an in-orbit manufacturing panel at LA Tech Week. Dm if you know a founder who should join as a panelist.

space brew

deal flow

seed

  • Astrus raises $2.4M Seed by Khosla, MVP, 1517 to automate analog chip design (EE).

  • Space DOTs raises $1.5M Seed by Female Founders Fund for in-orbit intelligence (TC).

series A+

  • IQM raises $320M Series B by Ten Eleven to scale quantum hardware (CNBC).

  • Shift5 raises $75M Series C by Hedosophia, Booz Allen, Squadra to scale operations for defense contracts (PR).

  • NRG Therapeutics raises $67M Series B for Parkinson’s therapies (LT).

  • Orchard Robotics raises $22M Series A by Quiet, Shine, General Catalyst for precision farming data (GW).

  • Tidal Cyber raises $10M Series A by Bright Pixel for threat intelligence (PR).

  • Flybotix raises $10M Series A by Greenering for drones inspecting industrial assets (EU).

m&a

  • Infleqtion goes public via $1.8B SPAC with Churchill Capital for quantum computers & sensors (BW).

  • Anglo American & Teck Resources merge in $53B copper pure-play driven by energy transition (RT).

headlines

🚀

  • Panasonic Avionics & Intellian Tech partner on aviation antennas for LEO IFC (VS).

  • JetBlue & Amazon’s Project Kuiper partner to deliver LEO IFC (TLP).

  • SpaceX acquires from EchoStar in $17B in cash-stock 50MHz of satellite spectrum licenses to expand D2P services (TC).

🤖

  • Duke University launches $2M space program & symposium on exploration (SD).

  • Globalstar expands mobile satellite ground station infrastructure in Greece (VS).

🔬

  • Mytos partners with 3 biotechs to accelerate therapies with cell manufacturing (LT).

  • UC San Diego: spaceflight accelerates stem cell aging impacting astronauts & aging research (LT).

community spotlight

today, 09/09

  • n8n meetup (LA).

  • Datadog summit (SF).

  • Game development (SF).

wednesday, 09/10

  • Techstars Space x JP Morgan (LA).

  • Happy hour (LA).

  • Founders showcase (SF).

  • Founders & funders coffee (SF).

thursday, 09/11

  • Rooftop soirée (LA).

  • Women in healthtech x angels (SF).

  • Founders + Investors Social (SF).

  • Frontier AI prototyping (SF).

friday, 09/12

  • NASA tour : SoCal Deep Tech Week (LA).

monday, 09/15

  • American industrial power panel (LA).

upcoming

  • Building in new space panel (LA).

  • Life sciences VC (LA).

cosmic weekly insights

trends in 30 seconds

In 2024, Europe’s space venture funding hit a record $1.8B, up 56% YoY, with nearly 40% flowing to defense startups.

Europe invests just 0.07% of GDP in space, below the 0.15–0.25% benchmark needed to close strategic capability gaps by 2040.

ICEYE, NanoAvionics, and EnduroSat are scaling up to support Ukraine, NATO, Japan, and EU sovereign launches.

Satcom leads U.S. dealmaking. Starlink's watershed EchoStar deal wins direct-to-cell scale, network control, and first-mover dominance. Defense demand for secure communications, anti-jam, RF infrastructure drives contracts and investment across the sector.

💻 Close deals fast: Private partnerships & BD.

🤝 Meet industry partners irl: Industry events.

✍🏻 Publish & Earn: White papers & op-eds.

☎️ Schedule a call: Goals, intros, collabs.

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