Bridgit Mendler

The space economy has a ground infrastructure problem. You can build a satellite and launch it faster than you can connect with it from Earth. Bridgit Mendler is building Northwood to fix that — deploying ground infrastructure in 3 months instead of 3 years. She joins a16'z Erik Torenberg to talk about vertical integration, the $50M Space Force contract, and why space is like the early internet: 00:00 Introduction 6:10 The ground segment bottleneck 10:06 Pandemic antenna origins 13:18 Three months, not three years 18:19 Starlink is not a threat 23:48 The space economy market map 29:45 The Space Force contract 36:03 Culture and values @bridgitmendler @eriktorenberg @NorthwoodSpace

The space economy has a ground infrastructure problem. You can build a satellite and launch it faster than you can connect with it from Earth. Bridgit Mendler is building Northwood to fix that — deploying ground infrastructure in 3 months instead of 3 years. She joins a16'z Erik Torenberg to talk about vertical integration, the $50M Space Force contract, and why space is like the early internet: 00:00 Introduction 6:10 The ground segment bottleneck 10:06 Pandemic antenna origins 13:18 Three months, not three years 18:19 Starlink is not a threat 23:48 The space economy market map 29:45 The Space Force contract 36:03 Culture and values @bridgitmendler @eriktorenberg @NorthwoodSpace

More friends, more fun at @CapitalAlso! We’re thrilled to welcome @ILIVETWICE, known to most as “Shaur”, as our newest Venture Partner. We first met Shaur as part of our initial investment in @NorthwoodSpace in 2023. When we asked a mutual friend about him, the friend was unequivocal—“Shaur’s the smartest person I’ve ever met. Also the kindest.” Close to 3 years since that first interaction, our lived experience has proven that friend’s assessment remarkably accurate. In that time, he helped take Northwood from inception through a $100M Series B, scaling the org from 3 co-founders to over 60 FTEs. Last year, the market also took notice of his contributions, with him receiving the Matthew Isakowitz Rising Star award and being named to Forbes 30 Under 30. From day one Shaur’s been generous with his time and network, sharp and thoughtful with his technical and market insights, and a staunch supporter of Also and our broader community. Most importantly, he’s values-aligned with everything we stand for–high integrity, low ego, and finding joy in the daily grind of solving hard problems. Bringing him into the fold in a more intentional way was a no brainer. Shaur joins @WillBruey, Colin, @jimcox25, and @danielaperlein, our incredible group of Venture Partners whose lived experience helps them understand the challenges and complexity of building in Hard Tech. They’re an amazing resource to us and our portfolio companies as they navigate hiring, fundraising, strategy, and manufacturing at scale. A fun fact about Shaur: at one point he served as a volunteer firefighter, graduating as valedictorian of his fire academy class – a small glimpse into the kind of intensity, commitment, and service mindset he brings to everything he does. Welcome to the team, Shaur!

We’re back with round 2! Announcing @CapitalAlso’s second fund, $50M to catalyze founders solving hard problems Was a ton of fun breaking the news with @tbpn @jordihays @johncoogan 🙏 We’ll share more detail tomorrow, but for now we made this graphic to celebrate 🚀

.@NorthwoodSpace closing a $100M series B to build out ground infrastructure to support space ops and data: "In recent times, because space has sped up so much, it actually takes longer to get your ground infrastructure set up then it takes to build a satellite and to launch it" -Co-Founder & CEO @bridgitmendler @CNBC @CNBCWEX cnb.cx/4jZBD3f

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Today Northwood has raised $100M in Series B funding led by @WashingHarbour and co-led by @a16z to support a simple objective – take space missions further faster. This financing follows millions in signed contracts including a $49.8 million contract with the Space Force to support the Satellite Control Network – critical infrastructure used for launches and early satellite operations, to track and control satellites, and to provide emergency support to tumbling and lost satellites.

Today Northwood has raised $100M in Series B funding led by @WashingHarbour and co-led by @a16z to support a simple objective – take space missions further faster. This financing follows millions in signed contracts including a $49.8 million contract with the Space Force to support the Satellite Control Network – critical infrastructure used for launches and early satellite operations, to track and control satellites, and to provide emergency support to tumbling and lost satellites.